August 2015

If you happen to drive by the Southwest Historical Society Log House Museum and notice some foxes in the garden, don't be alarmed. They were put there by the students of Schmitz Park Elementary School.

The Schmitz Park Foxes travelled to the Totem Pole Tuesday evening to explore the Log House Museum.

The students make an annual pilgrimage to the Birthplace of Seattle.

A group of students met with the foxes at the Totem Pole and shared some local history.

Hotwire online Coffeehouse at 4410 Calfornia Ave SW will celebrate its 13th year on Friday, September 4th.

To celebrate, they're giving away free 12oz Americanos and free 12oz lattes to customers who use a secret phrase that will be revealed on the Hotwire Facebook page that day.

Westside School founded in 1981, celebrated the move into its permanent home with a ribbon cutting, tours, food trucks and more on Saturday Aug. 29 at 11am. The even had been planned to be held outdoors but the weather forced a move into the schools new auditorium. The school is located at 10404 34TH Ave. SW.

The school has been in several places in the community, sharing space with Explorer West for a few years, before moving to E.C. Hughes for the last five years. Now after 13 and a half months of construction and many months in planning before that, and $15.5 million, they are ready to welcome students.

Construction at the new location began in early in 2013. The building is a complete renovation of the former Hillcrest Presbyterian Church and features 53,000 square feet dedicated to teaching and learning: 27 classrooms; light-filled, child centered work spaces; a new library; separate, team-oriented middle school classrooms; a 450 seat auditorium; green space, and warm and inviting gathering spaces where students, teachers, parents and visitors can connect, share and meet.

This week the King County Prosecutor’s Office filed a charge of Assault in the First Degree and set a bail amount of $500,000 for Junction resident Rony Samir Miranda-Guity after he shot his brother in the chest last week. An arraignment date has been set for Sept. 9.

On Saturday, August 22, at 11:58 p.m. Miranda-Guity, 19, was in his apartment at the San Juan Apartment complex at 4840 California Ave. S.W. when his brother Luis Martinez-Guity, 26, came home. Rony was playing a video game on his X-Box when Luis started an argument with him in their native Honduran language. The two began yelling at each other, with Luis even supposedly slapping Rony on the back of his neck, when Luis grabbed the X-Box.

Holding it in the air he told Rony he was going to smash it at which point things escalated exponentially. Rony grabbed a .25 caliber gun that was in his brother’s closet and shot Luis in the chest.

When speaking with detectives hours later Rony explained “I didn’t even think either. My reaction is my reaction, which was fast after he touched me and tried to grab my X-Box. Like, that’s the only thing that I got that I love.”

The annual Neighbors Helping Neighbors fall fundraising dinner for the West Seattle Helpline is set for the Hall at Fauntleroy on Nov. 13 from 6 to 9pm.

Interested in sponsoring this event?

Click here to submit your sponsorship information.

Interested in donating to our silent or live auction?

Click here to submit auction donation information.

Tickets will be available for purchase on the Helpline event page on September 15th.

Information from Seattle Parks

Rock climbing is fast becoming the sport of choice for many in search of an athletic activity with both grit and Zen. Climbing, it seems, is scaling into the mainstream. According to the Outdoor Industry Association, more than 10 million people in the United States participate in rock climbing at some level, and Seattleites in particular have embraced this sport with a passion, with rock climbing gyms and venues, indoor and outdoor­, growing exponentially. To celebrate both this coming-of-age time for the sport of climbing and Seattle’s long-standing mountain and climbing history/community, Seattle Parks and Recreation will open its historic Camp Long for a Mountain Festival on Sept. 13, 2015, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.—where anyone, from the novice to the hard-core enthusiast, can put hands on the rocks and get feet off the ground.

Update: 11:33 a.m.

On Thursday, Aug. 27, two officers with the Tukwila Police Department were serving a warrant at the known home of a biker auto thief when shots were fired on them by two motorcyclists. Neither officer, nor anyone else, was injured and the bikers immediately sped away and back onto I-5 afterward.

The suspect who the warrant was for is a man named Kevin M. Vaugh, a 6’1 biker with “Hatred” tattooed across his forehead who is known as a “prolific” auto thief. After the shooting his photo was distributed as a possible suspect in this shooting.

“He was the subject of interest in the arrest warrant that was associated with the search warrant. He was not on location this morning, hence us putting his information out since we are looking for him. We believe the individuals on the motorcycles were associated with, if not, him,” explained Com. Eric Drever with Tukwila Police.

The second early design review meeting for the 89 unit Seattle Housing Authority builiding proposed for 6058 35th Ave SW is set for Sept. 17 at the West Seattle Senior Center.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The proposal is to allow a 4-story structure containing 89 residential units, 8,500 sq. ft. of office space and 1,500 sq. ft. of retail space located at ground level. Surface parking for 98 vehicles to be provided.

MEETING

Date: Thursday, September 17, 2015

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Location: West Seattle Senior Center
4217 SW Oregon St
Hatten Hall

(An early design guidance meeting was previously held on June 25, 2015.)

All meeting facilities are ADA compliant. Translators or interpreters provided upon request. Please contact the Public Resource Center at prc@seattle.gov or (206) 684-8467 at least five business days prior to the meeting to request this service.

OPPORTUNITY FOR COMMENT

The land use permit application for the 7 story project proposed for 1307 Harbor Ave. S.W. has been filed with Seattle's Department of Planning and Development.

This location, former site of the Alki Tavern and for those with longer memories, of the Embers nightclub, sits between two existing condominiums (Seabird and Harbor Landing) but would likely stand much taller, depending on the final design.

In April of 2014, The Miller Hull Partnership, LLP came before the Southwest Design Review Board to present four primary options to a design that now will be a 7-story structure with 15 residential units, above retail, restaurant, office and light manufacturing in an environmentally critical area. Parking for 27 vehicles would be located within the structure. Existing structures would be removed.

The full early design review packet can be downloaded here.

On Tuesday evening Michael Taylor-Judd and Pete Spalding, representing VIEWS, presented a check to Angie Ramirez (Manager of the Delridge Community Center) and Jesus Aguirre (superintendent of the Seattle Parks Department).

This check is in fulfilling a portion of VIEWS commitment to building community in our Delridge neighborhoods. The check is a donation of a portion of the sponsorship dollars from the 10th Annual Delridge Day Festival that was held on August 8th at the Delridge Community Center complex.

VIEWS (Visualizing Increased Engagement in West Seattle)is a non-partisan community organization comprised of local citizens creating programming toeducate, engage and mobilize West Seattle citizens to sustain and improve
the quality of life and services available across the peninsula. To learn more about VIEWS we invite you to visit our webpage at www.wsgathering.org
or www.views.community .