Lincoln Park and Alki Beach Closed this weekend

April 9, 2020 by Leave a Comment

Mayor Durkin has announced Seattle’s 15 largest parks will be closed this weekend in an effort to assist with social distancing, including Lincoln Park, Alki Beach and West Seattle Stadium. The closure begins on Friday, April 10, 2020 at 11:00 pm and the parks will reopen on Monday, April 12, 2020 at 4:30 am.

From the Mayor’s statement:

“These are the beautiful weather days we crave all winter, but we are living in unprecedented times and the Governor’s order isn’t stay out – it’s stay home. Seattle’s frontline medical workers,  vulnerable residents, and displaced workers need you to stay home. While Seattle is expecting near perfect weather, friends and families should not have family or friend outings, picnics or gatherings in parks. Stay home unless you need to go to an essential job or business.  If you need to take a walk in your neighborhood, be smart and don’t help create a crowded place. Too many friends, residents and families are continuing to gathering for picnics, BBQs, basketball games, and group walks.  Because we still are in danger of a spike in infections, hospitalizations and deaths we have to keep doing out part. Easing up on social distancing too early will put more people at risk, could overwhelm our health care system, and could delay the reopening of businesses. Stay home, and if you must leave your home, be smart, follow social distancing guidelines by stay at lease six feet from everyone and wear a mask” said Mayor Jenny Durkan. “Our collective effort has made an impact flattening the curve, but we must continue or face even greater and longer term consequences.”

I’m concerned that the closure of these popular parks are only going to push more people to Beach Drive, which already seems more crowded with runners, walkers, bicyclist and walkers… and according to this study, 6 feet may not be enough distance from people who are walking, running or biking.

And while I’m at it… can folks please stop spitting and emptying their noses (aka snot rockets) in public areas? We walk Beach Drive and local parks and have seen all sorts of people doing this. I personally think even if we were not in the middle of a pandemic that this is a disgusting practice – but we definitely should be doing this right now. Rant over! 🙂

We hope you have a happy and healthy weekend!

Filed Under: Parks, Rants and Raves, Safety Tagged With: , ,

Bikes from the Bike Share program off the shores of Beach Drive

November 19, 2017 by 4 Comments

This morning, Scupper spied bikes from a couple of Seattle’s bike share programs that were tossed over the seawall at Emma Schmitz View Point.
I wonder if the bike share companies pay for the removal of the tossed bikes or if the City of Seattle winds up with the bill.

It’s not the first time that I’ve seen the bikes from this program vandalized and left behind as litter.

Filed Under: Crime, Rants and Raves

Beach Drive short term rental properties under direct fire (opinion)

June 3, 2016 by 6 Comments

Representation of known short term rental units in Seattle

More like a scattered shot gun approach if you ask me. The Seattle Mayor & esteemed Council members are set to propose strict regs on ALL short term (under 30 days) rental properties in the entire city. That of course includes all of West Seattle and the handful of units on Beach Drive which yours truly just went live with in May. 

The purpose and intention of the proposed legislation is to discourage homeowners with non-owner occupied properties to choose housing out of town tourists over more permanent long term renters. If it all goes as planned, the Council predicts there will be 300 new long term rental units on the market.  They stop short on claiming they’ll be “affordable” but that’s what they really want, and frankly should want.

Councilmember Tim Burgess that chairs Affordable Housing prides himself on using “smart policies and evidence-based solutions”. Really?

From personal experience, the few guests we have hosted so far have either had family living in West Seattle, were referred by neighbors that don’t have enough space for out of town relatives, a family from Minnesota that drove up from Portland to hang out and see a Twins game at Safeco Field, and a local West Seattle resident celebrating a landmark birthday with her out of area friends as a stay-cation. What they all had in common is…

  • They did not want to rent a hotel downtown and fight traffic and parking.
  • They did not want to stay in the basement of someone’s primary residence.
  • They all wanted a private waterfront home all to themselves which is not available anywhere commercially in the city.
  • They all spent a majority of time & money hanging out in West Seattle.

Other than required licensing, the Council is not going to hinder homeowners that are using their primary residence for housing STR guests. The idea is that this segment of the market is merely trying to make ends meet and subjecting them to the proposed regs wouldn’t result in additional permanent units anyhow. Well, the only 2 homeowners I know around here using their primary residence as a STR have entire apartment units on their lower floor and choose short term rather than permanent renters. Not trying to pull them into the crab boil as well but it probably won’t be long before the City sics their proposed staff of STR inspector goons on them as well!

Now we need to make a decision what to do with our house next door if the legislation passes through as proposed. Rent it out on a permanent basis? No, we also like the flexibility of using it for ourselves, family & friends. Sell it? Maybe some years down the road. Bottom line is that the City of Seattle will miss out on any further taxes & licensing fees we generate and West Seattle establishments will lose some year around tourism dollars. It’s just too much work & expense to run a STR like ours for the proposed limit of 90 days a year when the break even point is more like around 160 days.

 

WShotel

West Seattle’s one and only hotel/motel

I’m not saying a problem doesn’t exist in other parts of the city. All of Burgess’s example’s of why short term rentals are cheating permanent locals from finding affordable housing border downtown Seattle. He claims extreme abuses of entire apartment/condo floors being held out for STR to tourists. We’ve recently learned that “entrepreneurs” are actually renting out permanent apartment space and then jacking the rent to STR guests all with 100% approval of the building’s management team (also receiving a cut, of course). I also wouldn’t be surprised if abuses are taking place with the recent high density rezoning and micro housing attended for gram & gramps or permanent local renters.

Seems to me that the Council and Mayor should be targeting those abuses rather than ma & pa on Beach Drive.

 

Scupper, reporting/ranting for Beach Drive Blog

Filed Under: Beach Drive Homes, Current Affairs, In the News, Opinion, Politics, Rants and Raves, Scupper, Vacation

Slow down with Proposition 1 …opinion

October 30, 2015 by 3 Comments

SDOT’s new levy project to move most of Seattle sounds like another great plan for West Seattle (remember the monorail Green Line?). Status quo with more bike lanes and speed enforcement is exactly what we need! Let’s take closer look at each enhancement…

Fauntleroy Way: Key elements include paving, adding a protected bike lane, transit enhancements, and signal upgrades, improving safety and reliability for all travelers. Sounds terrific for Vashon Island comutters. How much $ are they contributing again??

Roxbury Street & 35th Ave: Over the last three years, 294 collisions, 128 injuries, and 2 fatalities have occurred. We are currently planning and designing near-term safety improvements paired with education and enforcement, working towards the city’s Vision. I believe a majority of these accidents occur from drivers slamming on their breaks trying to avoid the traffic-cop camera’s mailing out $190 tickets for doing 22 in a 20mph School Zone… when lights are flashing or children present or distracted by taking your eyes off the road to get a read on the myriad of signs designed to “educate us”.

SW Alaska Street:  The levy would provide funding to make safety improvements like redesigning the roadway. That’s an easy one. Just put the design back to where it was before adding the “bus only” & the staggered right turn only lane. Can you imagine being an out-of-towner trying to drive that stretch all the way to the junction?

Admiral Way: Project Goals

  • Encourage slower speeds  Tell that to the bikers doing 40 mph down the hill.
  • Reduce collisions  Collisions happen.
  • Accommodate existing maximum on-street parking occupancy There’s plenty of occupancy in motor homes & vans along Beach Drive.
  • Provide a comfortable and predictable bike connection between Alki and California Ave business district Why just bikes?

Here’s a more comprehensive plan that’s much more inclusive to our residents…

Admiral_proposal

 

The rest of the levy just repairs what we already have at a cost of $275 per year per household (median household of 450K) as opposed to the $130 we’re currently paying with the Bridge the Gap levy.

I’m convinced that the rest of the city just believes we West Seattleites love a good parade and need to slow down. While crawling in traffic between Admiral & Fauntleroy junctions yesterday, I reminisced of escorting my HiYu princess along California Ave. I wanted to roll down my window and give the float wave to all the angry impatient drivers heading the other way.

If you ask me, the rest of the city better look out. Old timers tell us it only took 71 years to get the high level bridge over the Duwamish!

Seattleites endured in trying to secure a high-level bridge that would get them to and from “the mainland” without being held up by boat traffic along the Duwamish River.

West Seattleites began campaigning for the bridge in 1916 and at one point threatened to secede from the city if it didn’t deliver.

Thank goodness we now have the West Seattle Bridge. Where else can you sit in traffic all day, soak in the wonderful views and dream of the day Starbucks can land a 4th cup of jo on your car hood’s drone pad.

They first named Alki “little New York” when the city founders came ashore. Now with all the new high density residential buildings coming on-line, we are becoming the “little Manhattan Island” of Seattle and could use a transportation plan that helps us get around.

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Scupper, blathering opinions on Beach Drive Blog (My wife, the blog boss, only allows me 1 opinion per year!)

Filed Under: Current Affairs, Opinion, Politics, Rants and Raves, Traffic, Uncategorized

No Parking Signs Out and Back-Dated for Towing

July 7, 2011 by 1 Comment

UPDATE 12:12 pm:  just back from a walk and found a "temporary permit" on one of the approximate 30 signs with another phone number.  I was told they were trying to get the right dates on the signs but the mist was interferring with their markers.  The person one the phone seemed surprised the signs were standing up since the work ("repaving at the citizens request") is not scheduled to take place until next week.  He was trying to stress to me that these signs were giving us additional notice–I had to repeatedly tell him that early notice with wrong dates is confusing.  I'm told someone will be out to fix it soon.  Here's more info from West Seattle Blog.

PS: I did receive a voice mail from the City of Seattle's engineering department, she did not leave her name.  She states that this is for repaving is scheduled to take place on July 13 and the signs are out now to give us notice…the fact that the dates are wrong seems lost to her as well. [rant over]

ORIGINAL POST:  An hour or so ago I noticed no-parking signs being put up on Beach Drive…I didn't think any thing of it until I looked at the dates…it's EFFECTIVE YESTERDAY.

2011-07-07_11-05-07_358

I called number on the bottom of the sign which directed me to the Seattle Department of Transportation.  The lady I talked to (I wish I grabbed her name) told me the signs are not there's if their name is not on it…most of the signs do not have "City of Seattle" on them but I notice one with a logo (not photo'd).  She still said this does not mean it's SDOT's sign.

She did say that 24 hour notice must be provided before a car can be towed.  When I asked her what happens if the signs were back-dated (or not dated properly) she couldn't answer.  She did take down my name and number. If I find out more information, I'll let you know.

At the very least, if your car ends up being towed because of a back-dated sign and improper notice, you can hopefully refer to this blog post.  I witnessed the signs going out and they were not out this morning when I walked my dog.

Filed Under: Rants and Raves

Mee Kwa Mooks Trash

July 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

A neighbor notified us that some people left garbage at Mee Kwa Mooks Park last night and told me that this has been happening often recently.  We live in such a beautiful area and it's sad that some people can be so thoughtless.

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By the time I reached the park, a gentleman from Seattle Parks Department was cleaning up. It appears the whoever did this left behind playing cards and even a cloth tablecloth and consumed a few beers.

DSC00708

Filed Under: Parks, Rants and Raves

Moon Shell Harvesting–Your Thoughts?

April 17, 2009 by 9 Comments

DSC_0021 Last week I noticed a group of men that appeared to be collecting a significant amount of moon shells along the beach in front of Emma Schmitz Memorial View Point.    I also see this person (photo) on a regular basis doing the same…armed with decent size tote, plucking many shells from the beach. 

One day I asked this person what she was doing (she had gone well past the park and was on private property); she informed she was collecting moon shells and beach glass. 

One shell here or there may not make a significant change but weekly raidings may have an environmental impact.   I have no idea if the moon shells are being harvested for food or decor.

What are your thoughts?    

Filed Under: Opinion, Parks, Rants and Raves

Someone Needs More Coffee

March 21, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Perhaps its me. I was just driving along Beach Drive to take the kids to their bus stop when someone in a dark truck passed me. I was going 30 mph (a.k.a. the speed limit). After this person passed me, they actually slowed down to 20 mph.  No one was behind or in front of us.  And I’m not interested in passing anyone on Beach Drive or entering into a game of road rage.  I just don’t get it.

I think I’m going to pour myself another cup of coffee when I get back home.

This post was written with my Treo…waiting at the bus stop with my kids.

Filed Under: Rants and Raves