Although the artist behind the Wall of Death—an art installation along the Burke Gilman Trail that's been used as an unofficial skatepark for the last decade—says he designed the sculpture to be used for skateboarding, the city says it has no plans to provide a new, covered space to skaters to replace the Wall of Death site.

Skaters have been lobbying the city for another covered skate spot after Seattle Department of Transportation employees installed anti-skate barrier at the site in October but, according to SDOT spokesman Rick Sheridan:

The city at this point is not exploring other potential areas for skateboarders.

The city has a history of looking out for the interests of skateboarders. The Marginal Way Skatepark for example is one that’s currently operating on public right of way.

But at this point due to the changes made near the Burke Gilman Trail we're not looking for additional improvements elsewhere to facilitate skateboarding.

It sounds like skaters are SOL and as we head into another dark, rainy winter, skaters are now left with only one covered skate spot: the Marginal Way Skatepark.

The four-year-old Marginal Way Skatepark (MWS)—a completely DIY skatepark in SoDo built and maintained by volunteers—is open but is only about 75% complete and MWS board member Tim Demmon says his group needs about $50,000 to finish the park. "It’s the only covered skatepark in Seattle [where] it rains a lot," he says.

So far, Demmon says the MWS hasn't gotten any money from the city. Maybe that needs to change. While the city's strapped for cash right now and has canceled plans for several other skateparks around the city, this seems like an easy and relatively inexpensive way to make up for killing the Wall of Death.

It's incredibly unlikely the city's going to cough up any money for skaters in these tough economic times, but if you've got an piles of cash lying around, you can drop by one of the two MWS fundraisers this weekend and support your local DIY skatepark.

As I've written before, residents of West Seattle turned out en masse a couple of weeks ago to oppose a proposal to shrink Fauntleroy Way SW from four lanes to three, arguing that streets are for cars, not bikes. (Not surprisingly, the majority of those present were drivers from either West Seattle or Vashon Island, although a fair number of cyclists showed up as well.) The Seattle Department of Transportation just provided me with a copy of all the public comments submitted in writing at that meeting (which, as I've noted elsewhere, are not votes—he who screams the loudest does not automatically win), a selection of which I've reproduced (in some cases editing slightly for spelling) below. Taken together, the 109 written comments constitute an interesting dialectic—illustrating that no solution can make everyone happy, and that cyclists' and drivers' perceived needs will never really intersect. Also—and I say this as a journalist and profligate note-taker—I am shocked at the current state of penmanship in America.

The comments:

We do not need bicycle lanes on Fauntleroy Way—somebody will get killed. Bicycles have no business on Fauntleroy.

This is the worst idea in the history of the DOT. It would create a very large backup at the intersection of Fauntleroy and Alaska, including both directions, If I were a bicyclist I would not take my life by riding on Fauntleroy. The ferry traffic is too fast paces as the rush to catch their boat. Fauntleroy does need to be repaved, though.

Thank goodness! Bicyclists in W. Seattle will have a safer route to get to work and play, and more cyclists will be interested in trying bike commuting. Thanks!

Drivers are very good about moving over for bicycles and there are almost no left turners to worry about. If the lanes are reduced to only one in each direction the congestion will be terrible.

I would love to ride my bike down Fauntleroy, but traffic is too heavy. Maybe this will encourage people to use public transportation more, carpool or bike. We need less cars on the road.

Penny-wise and pound foolish! Makes more sense to ENFORCE SPEED LIMITS and ticket jaywalkers... I suggest you repave the street AND make a separate bike lane on the sidewalk!

A center turn lane would benefit cars and pedestrians trying to cross what has been a very busy speedway. Anything that would reduce speed on Fauntleroy would be great.

We need to have a quick way to move people from the ferry (as well as others in West Seattle). Taking away lanes to allow a few bicycles to have a dedicated lane is unfair.

Anything that slows down traffic on this stretch is a good thing for safety.

This plan is full of shit! Back to the drawing board!

Bicycles pay NO TAX they must not have priority over autos, trucks that do.

I commute to Ballard from the Endolyne neighborhood and the longest part of my commute is getting to the freeway entrance at 35th & Fauntleroy. This will only make my commute longer and no I can't take the bus or ride my bike.

Sure safety is a concern—but is this the only idea you have? What about having only one side of street parking (or none)? What about increasing the roadway width?

Turn so-called "parking strips" into true parking strips for cars. I'll personally help move (transplant) small trees or even cut down older trees to accommodate all the cars parked on both sides of the street. This frees up 2 lanes pronto—PLEASE CONSIDER. Let's change the law if necessary.

Reducing lanes slows up traffic and YOU KNOW IT! Be reasonable and listen to WE THE PEOPLE!

I have lived in West Seattle for 23 years. I never travel on Delrdige because it is 2 lanes and you always get behind someone going twenty-five mph and you have to pass them.

I'm totally in favor with the proposed plan. Speeds on this corridor are too fast above the speed limit and there is no good bike route through this area except residential streets that do not have street lighting.

The volume of traffic as it currently exists during peak hours is too great and will be delayed by at least a minute due to this change. One minute times the number of commuters is a lot of time.

Decrease Fauntleroy speed limit to 30 MPH for the entire boulevard.

I've met people here tonight from the other side of Fauntleroy that I didn't know existed! They are on the other side of that great gulf! Calmer streets = community. Calm traffic!

Blaming a tough economy, Whole Foods executives sent an ominous letter to all employees in its Pacific Northwest stores last month that warns of potential layoffs, announces a hiring freeze, and says new stores are on hold.

“Many teams are clearly overstaffed for their current sales and are at the point where labor needs to be reduced…” the memo says. It adds that as “sales soften,” the company has accumulated $59,000 in labor deficits. “Team sales and labor will be reviewed in January and tough decisions may be made if we are unable to achieve sales to labor balance by that time.” The memo says no layoffs will occur before January.

According to several sources, the largest local Whole Foods store at 56,000 square feet, located in Bellevue, has been lacking for sufficient business. Meanwhile, as Jonah reported, the company delayed plans for a store in Interbay and announced plans to downsize it.

In fact, the Texas-based chain plans to only build smaller stores from now on.

“We are looking at sites that are under 40,000 square feet as a format for our stores as we go forward,” says Vicki Foley, a Whole Foods regional spokeswoman. “That is not just our region—that’s for the whole county.” While 40,000 square feet is still large, it marks a departure from competing with the Safeway and QFC mega-markets.

But the size of the stores may be a secondary explanation for the slump in sales in poor times. Whole Foods is notoriously expensive, earning the nickname “Whole Paycheck.”

“Obviously, we don’t like the name Whole Paycheck,” says Foley, “because we comparative shop with other stores in the area, checking to make sure we are not more expensive than anybody else.”

Meanwhile, Trader Joe’s, which only operates smaller stores and sells generic nonperishable items at low prices, seems to be holding strong. An employee at the Capitol Hill store said there are no concerns about layoffs or a slump in business there. Nobody from the Trader Joe’s national office has returned calls to comment.