January 2016

The Olympic Athletic Club (OAC) is making moves that members of the Salmon Bay Aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles (F.O.E.) are calling “shady.”

The Eagles were founded in 1898 here in Seattle and have been accredited with establishing Mother’s Day and Social Security. With such historic and social prominence it’s not surprising that some Eagle’s members and Ballard residents have started asking questions as a developer and Eagle’s member appear to be using the 83-year-old fraternity’s own democratic method for their own personal gain.

In March of 2015 Jim Riggle, owner of the Ballard Hotel and the Olympic Athletic Club, offered the Salmon Bay Aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles $2.4 million for their commercial property. The Eagles have owned the property (5244 Leary Ave. N.W.) next to their aeries since the 1970s, and they currently lease it to Elite Auto Care Inc.

information from South Seattle College

South Seattle College announced tonight that the annual Gifts from the Earth fundraising event raised nearly $222,000, a new record in its thirteen-year history. This is the fourth-consecutive year that a new Gifts-record has been set.

Proceeds from the event benefits South’s Foundation in its mission to support South students and programs with scholarships, internships, emergency funding, tutoring and more.

“Gifts from the Earth is an inspiring event where philanthropists and our sponsors come together for the common goal of supporting South students in their pursuit of a higher education and a fulfilling career,” South Seattle College President Gary Oertli said. “Their support has an enormous impact on our students’ ability to realize their dreams.”

By Amanda Knox

Makaela Pollock is the director of ArtsWest’s latest production, Really Really by Paul Downs Colaizzo. It is a play that, when it was first produced in 2013, the New York Times described as “Lord of the Flies with smartphones.” Pollock, who describes herself as quietly ubiquitous within the Seattle theatre scene, sat down with me to discuss what audiences may expect of the play with her steering the helm.

Tell me about Really Really

Really Really is a little bit dangerous. It’s a play that I think ArtsWest is brave to be doing, because it asks us to look at culpability, gender roles, class roles, and the issue of sexual assault in really complex and grey ways. It’s a play that doesn’t come out with a right or wrong kind of morality. Things are really compromised for everyone. You see everyone make objectionable choices.

Is greyness and culpability supposed to define the millennial generation?

The Washington ski and snowboard season continues with a commonly seen warm front rolling through the region this past week. These events are important as they act as snow pack consolidation events, with this weeks freezing levels spiking up around 6000 feet and inversions at some of our local ski areas. Lowering snow levels for the weekend are providing us a freshening storm with heavy accumulation above 3000 feet.

The snowpack is deep and the coverage has filled in all of the creeks and dips we have become accustomed to skiing over the last couple of years. The warm spike led to wet heavy avalanches and consolidated the base by melting and bonding the snow in weak upper layers of our snowpack. Ultimately this stabilizes our snowpack for longevity and decreases the avalanche danger, which is down from High to Considerable according to the Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC.us).

A new oddity shop is attracting collectors, strange seekers, weird wanderers and the plain curious of Ballard.

Ballyhoo Curiosity Shop opened its doors at 5445 Ballard Ave. N.W. last month. A preserved antelope can be seen from the doorway. Down the stairs lies a subterranean oasis of wonder. Intrigued shoppers will find everything from minerals and rare jewelry to masks absurd taxidermy and human skulls in jars.

Owner Ryan Robbins, 27, said that the store fits somewhere between a natural history museum and an antique store.

Robbins explained that oddity shops originated as places where people could see and procure rare things from all over the world that many people had never seen.

“People who were able to travel all over the world would collect all these things that before the Internet no one would had been able to see before. … This is really a throw-back of a curiosity shop because its really things from all over the world.”

The Port of Seattle is in the process of making Terminal 5 ‘big ship ready.’ This includes a number of steps, including dredging and strengthening the dock for larger cranes, which requires installing new piles while they undergo an environmental impact statement (EIS).

Before any of this happens, they need to run a number of tests, which includes using what is called a rapid load test.

The first rapid load testing of piles as part of the design and permitting process for the Terminal 5 Improvements Project is took place around mid-day on Friday, Jan. 22. An additional test may take place on Monday, Jan. 26.

The tests sound like a half-second cannon shot. The sound can be as loud as 145 decibels. A total of nine rapid load tests will occur between January and the end of March, with no more than one test occurring per day.

The test results may help reduce the number of piles required and the depth of pile installation, which in-turn would reduce noise associated with pile-driving during construction.

By Jane Koh

Two West Seattle complexes, one on 1307 Harbor Ave SW and another on 1250 Alki Ave SW, are one step closer to development after the Southwest Design Review Board (SDRB) approved both design proposals on Thursday. The existing structures on these lots will be demolished for the new buildings

A team of three architects working on the Harbor Ave multi-use complex presented nearly finalized designs for the building. The last time they met with the SDRB was in April 2014. Since then they have taken and applied advice on designing from the board into a vastly improved product.

The 6-story structure will include an office, a café, a design lab, a restaurant, an underground parking lot, retail stores and 15 apartment units. The community amenities in the structure reflect the architects’ priority to design a building that will engage local residents.

Brian Court, an architect from the Miller Hull firm expressed the goal they had in designing the structure so that people could enjoy both the view of the city and the surrounding landscape from the building.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Thursday, Jan. 21
Boys basketball
Shorewood Christian 77, Puget Sound Adventist 62
Shorewood Christian of West Seattle won decisively Thursday.

Girls basketball
Shorewood Christian 51, Puget Sound Adventist 23
The girls also cruised to a victory over Puget Sound Adventist.

Wrestling
Kennedy 51, Foster 18
Kennedy Catholic pinned a loss on the Bulldogs Thursday.
Renton 37. Highline 36
The Pirates were edged by Renton.
Chief Sealth 6, West Seattle 0
Chief Sealth won against the Wildcats on Thursday.
Franklin 23, West Seattle 0
The Quakers also defeated West Seattle.
Chief Sealth 51, Ingraham 24
Chief Sealth dealt Ingraham a defeat Thursday.

Boys swimming
Kennedy 129, Renton 24
The Lancers routed Renton in the pool.

Wednesday, Jan. 20
Boys basketball
Highline 63, Tyee 56
The Pirates won a close one against the Totems on Wednesday.
Kennedy 69, Renton 66
Kennedy Catholic outlasted the Indians on Wednesday.
Lindbergh 78, Evergreen 48

information from King County

King County utility crews are working quickly this morning to repair a sewer line leak near the 63rd Avenue Pump Station, which is located at 3535 Beach Drive S.W. in Seattle.

The small leak was detected last night in a 42-inch pipeline that pumps wastewater from homes and businesses in West Seattle to King County’s West Point Treatment Plant in the Magnolia neighborhood.

An undetermined amount of wastewater overflowed out of the pipe and into Puget Sound. To protect public health and safety, crews quickly initiated cleanup and posted warning signs to keep people away from affected areas.

Construction workers will be on site this morning to repair the pipeline.

King County reported the overflow to health and regulatory agencies and will monitor water quality over the next several days.

By Gwen Davis

A living room conversation took place Thurs. evening at The Kenney. Attendees — which included Kenney residents and neighbors — brought up various issues. The event’s objective was to address neighbors’ questions and concerns regarding the police department.

Officer Kevin McDaniel, from the southwest precinct opened the meeting.

“I love West Seattle and have worked here for the past 20 years,” McDaniel said. “If I had it my way I’d retire from Southwest Precinct here in West Seattle.”

McDaniel was one of the three department officials facilitating the meeting.

“Tonight we call this a ‘living room chat’ to bridge the gap between the community and the Seattle Police Department,” he said.

Officer Jon Flores was also present, and answered questions from attendees.

“We’re just here to engage with you all tonight,” he said.

Mark Solomon with the South Precinct, the third facilitator, introduced himself about how much officers love the West Seattle precinct. “They wave at you with all five fingers there,” he said.

First question: one attendee asked what is a block watch.