Potential “Barking Dog” Report: High Winds and Waves

Barking-Dog-ReportIf you are a long time reader of Beach Drive Blog, you are familiar with the “barking dog” report. A “barking dog” report is when we are preparing to possibly flood from waves breaching our bulkhead. It’s called a “barking dog” because, much like a neighbor’s barking dog – it could be much ado about nothing. We are not professional weather people – we do care about our neighbors and will “bark” if we see what we think is enough warning. And, like your neighbor’s barking dog, we’re not always right.

So… this is what we’re looking at right now and this is subject to change (please check links on the right for updated forecast).

First of all, we have some very high tides in the next couple of days, paired with the strong winds. This chart is from NOAA.

March 8 2016 tides

Now check out this chart from Wind Alert for Alki Point.

march 8 2016 wind

This is concerning.

We have an 11.39 on Wednesday at 4:56 pm… what seems to be more concerning is the next high tide estimated at 12.44 at 5:38 am on Thursday when it’s predicted we may have gusts up to 50 mph.

Puget Sound Marine forecast:

 WED NIGHT  SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT…BECOMING S 20 TO 30 KT AFTER  MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 5 FT. RAIN.  

THU  S WIND 20 TO 30 KT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT.  

THU NIGHT  SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT…BECOMING S 10 TO 20 KT AFTER  MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.

If for nothing else, this is a good reason to make sure you are prepared for potential flooding and to check on neighbors – make sure they know about this potential storm.

I hope this is a big to-do about nothing.

Found Bike

Are you missing this bike? IMG_5512
Apparently this bike was spotted in Mee Kwa Mooks yesterday and has since been moved down the trail about 100 yards.

Enjoy a yummy Zippy’s Giant Burger and help raise funds for Shorewood Christian School

zippys1

Lost Keys

This message is from a Beach Drive neighbor regarding a set of keys she lost:

I lost them sometime around Jan 7 – 14, on or near Beach Dr, near the Emma Schmidt Memorial Lookout park or close by. I had a car key, 4 diff kinds of door keys (one with a fancy print on it), 1 mail key. I just now thought to post it on this blog. Thanks for your help.

If you’ve found a set of keys, please comment on the blog or send me an email so we can reunite them with the owner.

Update on the repaving of Beach Drive

KOMO 4 news picked up the petition to repave Beach Drive a couple days ago.

In KOMO’s coverage, they state that “Beach Drive, according to SDOT, does not have a major bus route, and traffic volumes are not as heavy as other roads that are in need of paving”.

Beach Drive neighbor, Jim Unland provided us an update as well:

“I spoke with Sue Byers from SDOT this morning.  She is the Acting Manager of the Pavement Engineering Management Section (PEMS).  She said that she expects the City to do the repaving work on Beach Dr. from Orleans St. to Andover St. sometime this summer.

Besides waiting for the weather to improve, they also have to coordinate the installation of curb ramps at the affected intersections in compliance with the American’s with Disabilities Act.

They are unable to repave the area around La Rustica (Beach Dr./Carroll St.) at this time because of bid limit laws.  The work this summer will be done as an “in-house” job and the budget only allows for this Orleans St. to Andover St. section to be done.  I asked her to put the La Rustica intersection on the wish list and I am very hopeful that it too will get repaved as the budget and calendar permit.

One last thing, if the City has any sense, they will remove the word “Acting” from Sue Byers’ title.  She has been helpful, courteous, informative and responsive throughout my contacts with her.  She exemplifies what we want in our public employees.  If you can give her a plug in your blog, it would be a nice way of saying ‘thank you’.”

Consider that done, Jim!

By the way, you can report potholes to SDOT. They even have an app for that! Click here for more info.

Sewer Line Leak off the shores of Beach Drive

There was a sewer line leak reported two days ago at the pump station located near Constellation Park (also referred to by neighbors as “Constipation Park”). It is unknown the amount of sewage that was released into Puget Sound.

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.

 

 

Petition to repave Beach Drive

bd pot hole driveA Beach Drive neighbor, Jim Unland, wants Beach Drive to be repaved. He is looking for 100 signatures on his on-line petition to repave pot-hole riddled Beach Drive. Whether your drive or bike on Beach Drive, you’re probably very aware of sad state of our street.

From Jim’s emails:

Here is the link to a petition I created.  I am hoping you can put it on your blog and promote it and convince people to sign it and share it.  It is linked to Lisa Herbold’s email and Sue Byers (SDOT).

I have business cards ordered with the website on them and I will be walking the neighborhood giving them out.  Between websites like yours and my walking, I’m hoping to get enough signatures to get some movement on this issue by the City.

…When someone signs the petition, our Councilmember, Lisa Herbold and the two “at-large” Councilmembers, Tim Burgess and Lorena González will be emailed a message simply stating “Please Repave Beach Drive”  The other recipient of this message will be Sue Byers.  She is in charge of repaving at SDOT.”

In 2011, someone with a sense of humor re-named “Pot Hole Drive”.

You can sign the petition by clicking this link: https://www.change.org/p/jim-unland-repave-beach-drive

 

Come help plant fruit trees on Chilberg

photo kevin working

Kevin getting the project started.

Chilberg neighbors have starting a volunteer landscape project in the to install 10 dwarf fruit trees on a public median. They are one of the West Seattle groups awarded a Seattle Department of Neighborhoods matching fund grant.

From the neighborhood announcement:

“Friends of the Chilberg Link will beautify a sloped median that leads to Emma Schmitz Park along the shoreline. The median is along Chilberg Ave SW between SW Carroll & SW Douglas. Friends of the Chilberg Link will remove invasives, prune vegetation, plant edible plants, and create an area for rainwater holding and a secured art piece. Work parties will be held in the winter and spring of 2016. Professional landscape firms will be hired to lead the community in landscape installation, including: Mariposa Naturescapes, Garden Cycles, and Black Lotus Landscaping LLC.

The neighborhoods desire is to honor a piece of West Seattle’s cultural and landscape history:

“The meadow at the northern end of the Schmitz property, a single lane dirt road wound down a hill through substantially uninhabited meadow to a dead end a block beyond Carroll Street.  

 When walking to and from the old Alki School [at Chilberg Ave. SW/59th and Caroll], we frequently preferred the trail along Chilberg Avenue, to enjoy some of the most beautiful wild flowers in the open fields and leading up into ‘The woods,’ the hillside forest.”  Lillevand Papers, SWSHS.

ChilburgIf you would like to help out, you can join the Friends of Chilberg on:

Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 to 12:30 until March 15, 2016.

Bring:

  • Shovels
  • Pruners
  • Gloves
  • Cardboard (to lay on dirt)
  • Allow use of yard waste containers

For more information, contact Janice at nymanarc@gmail.com

King Tides coming next Week

We have extra high tides (aka King Tides) predicted next week.

  • Wednesday, January 13th at 7:35 AM: 12.9
  • Thursday, January 14th at 8:14 AM: 13
  • Friday, January 15th at 8:55 AM: 12.9

Hopefully it will be as sunny and calm as it is today. Although it was a spectacular sight along Alki with last month’s King Tide.

King Tide

We have a high tide of 12.5 minutes away at 10:14 am this morning. There is a small craft advisory in effect until this evening with waves of 2 to 4 feet.

Our intrepid reporter, Scupper is on the scene at Mee Kwa Mooks and has just shared this video of the tides washing over the walkway.