West Seattle

Humans love anniversaries—birthdays and weddings particularly. There is something special about coming of age at 21 or reaching the first wedding anniversary—that is if marriage was chosen as an option. But there are anniversaries that seem to lurk under the radar of remembrance—yes, the year that your father died of cancer or your mother died of heart disease. These anniversaries are not celebrated but are rather feared. Many of my friends have silently approached such an anniversary with dread.

My own father died of cancer at age forth-seven after he had sired eleven children and helped to deliver ten of them. Money was scarce and no doctor was ever called in those days. But since my mother was pregnant with me when my father died, she had to call a doctor for the first time when I came into the world. From that time on I suppose my brothers silently feared approaching the age of 47 and as luck would have it, all of them reached that age safely.

Environmental engineering crews are working on a soil remediation project at the corner of 35th Ave. s.w. and Graham Street, specifically at 6058 35th Avenue s.w. on the site of a former service station.

The project was awarded to a local firm by the Seattle Housing Authority, owners of the land.

The work being done consists of the excavation of petroleum contaminated soil to an approximate depth of 30 feet below ground surface. Clean overburden soil will be segregated and stockpiled on site. The excavation will be stabilized using an engineered shoring wall on the western and southern property boundaries to support the City of Seattle Right-of-Way and associated infrastructure.

Petroleum contaminated soil will be hauled off site and disposed of at an appropriate contaminated soil disposal facility.

The project cost is estimated between $600,000 and $675,000.

The work is expected to take approximately six weeks.

Press Release:
South Seattle Community College has been awarded a five-year, $1.99 million Strengthening Institutions Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The Title III-Part A grant will enable the college to continue and expand efforts to improve student progression to graduation/completion. The grant focuses particularly on strategies to achieve the critical 45-credit momentum benchmark, which has proven to be a strong indicator of eventual graduation.

Funds will be utilized to address four major components:

Transform and strengthen vital student support services to assist underserved, first-generation, multi-ethnic students to successfully bridge into college and to maintain critical momentum and progression through their educational goals.
Improve delivery methods in developmental English/writing and math to improve student progression to college-level courses.
Strengthen transition services moving from noncredit education to credit developmental or college-level coursework.

On the top of every parents’ mind was just how bad drug use and violent fights are at WSHS and according to Southwest Precinct Officers Bob Besaw and Tom Burns, the answer is good news; Not bad at all, and due in large part to the change in school administration.

“Would I be concerned about the drug problem? No, I mean drugs are always a concern. Is it an epidemic? Is it out of control? I would say no it’s not,” Officer Burns said.

“If Bob (Besaw) and I aren’t getting along and we are hell bound to fight, we’re going to fight. But is there a problem? Absolutely not,” he added, speaking to the inevitability of the occasional fight and admitting that he got into a few back in high school.

The officers, who patrol the school during lunch and after classes end, answered parents’ questions during a WSHS Parent Teacher Student Association meeting on Oct. 27.

The officers credit much of the school’s reduced drug and violence issues to the change in administration that occurred this year that put Principal Ruth Medsker in charge. Principal Medsker was unavailable for comment by print time.

The third in a series of meetings about the proposed driving range at West Seattle Golf Course was jam packed with golfers, neighbors and others anxious to see what the design team for the project had come up with Wednesday, night Oct. 27. This, following a meeting in September that was marked by a very vocal contingent of local golfers who saw the proposed changes as "desecration" of the 70 year old, Chandler Egan designed course.

The design team presented a plan that was intended to address, "the environmental concerns, neighborhood concerns and golfer concerns."

(See the attached image files for the current view of the plan plus a phased approach to construction and a meeting outline).

The changes in the latest version, as described by Todd Schoeder of iCon Golf Studio, architect for the design team are, "The biggest changes from our last plan are threefold. We've created three new golf holes and a new driving range facility but in a different location from the other plan that negatively impacted the golf course.

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WSGC Phased Approach.jpg

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West Seattle Blockwatch Captains’ Network met on Oct. 26 to discuss how technology will help revitalize blockwatches on the peninsula and met with Community Police Team officer Jonathan Kiehn to discuss his role with the Southwest Precinct.

Co-leader Deb Greer discussed the group’s effort, in conjunction with the Southwest Precinct, to create an online map of blockwatch captain locations throughout West Seattle. Their hope is that the map will be a resource for people to contact captains if they want to get involved, identify blocks where a watch is needed and connect with nearby blockwatches to work together in keeping an eye out for crime.

“Crime does not stop where your blockwatch ends,” Greer said.

Greer said the map’s progress has been slowed with the recent change in operations lieutenants at the precinct. Outgoing Lt. Norm James, who was working on the map project and is now headed to the West Precinct, will be replaced by Lt. Pierre Davis in early November. The BWCN hopes to get the project back up and running once Lt. Davis takes his post.

The third West Seattle Golf Driving Range Public Meeting is set for tonight Wednesday, October 27 from 7:00pm - 8:30pm at the West Seattle Golf Course 4470 35th Ave. s.w.

There have been two previous meetings in which designs and ideas were presented, the last one on Sept. 16 which drew some angry responses and a large crowd of golfers and area residents. Our coverage of that meeting is here.

While there are numerous approaches to fitting a driving range into the existing property the plan offered in the September meeting was controversial because it called for a shortening of the current par 5, 9th hole by some 200 yards, making it a par 4 hole and the potential shortening of the 10th hole by some 40 yards.

Those plans were drawn as a response to the initial feedback Seattle Parks and its design team got from the August meeting.

Terry Finck has owned Daschunds for twenty years and his latest is Rudi, a 10 pound, four year old miniature version of the breed. He likes them because they are a "Small dog, not a lot of hair."

Daschunds are already low to the ground and Rudi is even lower which makes easily seeing the gender just a little bit harder.

When you add the somewhat androgenous name Rudi, Finck finds that he must say, "like Rudi Huxtable on the Cosby show," which clarifies her as a female. It's just a "dog thing," Finck explained," Everyone thinks cats are female and dogs are male. "It took us awhile to come up with a name."

Rudi has not had pups, and she is spayed. "We're good responsible owners," he said.

Finck found Rudi at breeder in Belfair, near Gig Harbor.

When you are a tiny dog, low to the ground, it helps to have a loving disposition. "She loves everybody," said Finck, "Our neighbor has a one year old and she loves him. She's just a people and dog person." Finck explained that Rudi has a very outgoing personality. "She wants to meet everything and everyone," he said.

Press Release:
This year, West Seattle commuters won’t have to say goodbye to the West Seattle Water Taxi for its winter hibernation. The King County Water Taxi will continue to operate commuter service through fall and winter on the West Seattle-Downtown Seattle route starting Monday, Nov. 1.

The new commuter schedule will sail weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Starting Monday, Nov. 1, the water taxi will sail every 20 minutes while the vessel Sightseer, owned by Argosy Cruises, replaces the Rachel Marie, which is undergoing repairs after colliding with a pier on Sept. 26. While the Sightseer provides the West Seattle Water Taxi service, passengers will arrive and depart from Pier 55 in downtown Seattle and from Seacrest Dock in West Seattle.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly
Guadaloupe Church-Pastoral Care Center
7000 35th Ave. S.W.
Every Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. TOPS is an encouraging weight loss support group with weigh-ins every Tuesday. For information contact Peg at 206-932-2621.

Host for Chinese Teacher Urgently Needed!
West Seattle High School is looking for a host for Mr. Jinan Jia for the 2010/2011 school year. Mr. Jia is a teacher in China and will be teaching Chinese this year at WSHS. He arrives July 30th. A home in West Seattle is preferred as he will use Metro to get to work and will be networking with his colleagues in the area. Anyone interested, please call Principal Ruth Medsker at 206-252-8800.

GriefShare Class
Grace Church
10323 28th Ave. S.W.
Saturdays 10 a.m.-noon. This international grief recovery support group is open to anyone who has lost a loved one to death. You can start at anytime. For information: Barb at 206-932-7459.

Call for Vendors for Arts & Crafts Fair