scott

Tonight the Swedish/Sabey Citizens Advisory Committee voted to recommend that the city force the Swedish Cherry Hill developer to go through a more serious level of review before they can proceed with their proposed project along the east side of 18th Ave.

A large number of neighbors showed up to listen in and have their say on the project.  There were several homeowners and renters who live on 19th Ave between Cherry & Jefferson who are not too happy at the prospect of having two big new buildings with 135,000 square feet of space and parking for 344 vehicles right on the other side of their backyard fences.

Neighbors were also very suspicious of Sabey's acquisition of two single-family residences along 19th, outside of the boundaries of the existing campus. Sabey representatives insist that they intend those to only be residential investments, but several people expressed a pretty logical fear that Sabey is actually angling to buy out the entire block and will some day try to rezone the properties for hospital use.

Sabey also presented some architectural renderings of what the buildings will look like, and even some opponents were complimentary of the quality of what they've come up with.  They include a lot of brick to match the old Providence buildings, and include fairly generous set-backs on the east side facing the residential properties.  Plans also call for the installation of mature trees and other landscaping that they hope will soften the overall impact of the project.

Development on the hospital campus is governed by a Major Institution Master Plan (MIMP).  That's basically a complicated part of the city code that aims to get big institutions to work with local citizens to get a win/win for development.  The current MIMP goes back to the 90s when the whole thing was owned and operated by the Sisters of Providence, and was put into place specifically because of friction between the hospital and their neighbors over the creeping expansion of the campus.  Back then, neighbors thought they had agreement that development along 18th would be a gentle transition between the big buildings and the single family houses to the east.  The plans specifically called for things like a daycare center, a gym, and an inn to serve patient's families.  The current designs replace all of that with two large office buildings that neighbors feel is hostile to the character of the surrounding neighborhood.

The technical issue at hand was whether the developer could get their new building along 18th built as a "minor amendment" to the MIMP.  If so, they'd only have to go through the normal permitting process to get the project built.  If not, it would be classified as a "major amendment" that would take things to a different level, possibly giving neighbors more leverage to get alterations to the design or require new amenities to balance the overall impact. A determination for a major amendment could also force Sabey to draw up an entirely new MIMP in consultation with the community before doing any additional development.

The next step is for the city to take the committee's recommendation into account in their determination of whether this is a minor or major amendment.  That process is expected to last at least a couple of months.

The recent election was pretty momentous at the local level too, with voters approving a new expansion of Sound Transit service around the region. That will eventually bring two new transit options to the edges of the neighborhood: a light rail stop on I-90 at Rainier, and a new street car that will connect Capitol Hill with the International District. According to Sound Transit, there won't be a lot of details on the light rail stop until a preliminary environmental impact statement that will be released before the end of the year. But the streetcar activity is already getting going.

The plan right now is for Sound Transit to hand over a pile of cash to the city of Seattle, who will take charge of designing, building, and operating the streetcar.  Project manager Ethan Melone says that, if things go as planned, preliminary engineering work could start as soon as February 2009 and the system could go into service sometime between 2012 and 2016 depending on the availability of funding.

The street car is intended to fill the gap caused when First Hill lost their light rail station due to the risk and cost of constructing a facility deep underground at Broadway & Madison.  The streetcar's route would connect the International District light rail station with the forthcoming underground station on Capitol Hill at Broadway & Denny.  As originally conceived, the tracks would be run east on Jackson to 12th, then north on Broadway to Denny Way.

But that route isn't necessarily fixed.  In fact, folks on First Hill are making a push to run the streetcar further west, putting it completely out of reach for us.  I've talked to several people in the CD who hoped that this new line would be closer to the neighborhood, seeing as we've so far been left out of all the cool new transit additions.  We're also lacking any transit options to all of the fun stuff on Capitol Hill - a new streetcar closer to the neighborhood could help connect us with our buddies on Capitol Hill.

We'll keep our ears open as this stuff gets going and let you know what's happening.  And the city's project manager, Ethan Melone, is available to come talk to any community group in the area.  Invite him to your next meeting if you want to have a voice on how this new system gets planned and built.  You can reach him at 206-684-8066, or at ethan (dot) melone at seattle (dot) gov.

It's a sunny November Monday in Seattle.  What more could we hope for?  Here's the scoop from the streets of the East Precinct:

I was surprised when I opened up the paper today to the Pacific NW Magazine (Paul Dorpat's Now & Then is usually my first Sunday morning stop) and saw a couple of faces I recognized on the front page.  Turns out they have a big feature on our little neighborhood., including a lot of shots from Chef Brenda Lee's summer block party on 20th Ave.

They include some interesting stats on how things have changed around here in the last 10 years:

The census numbers say it all. Between 2000 and 2007, the number of children under age 5 in the neighborhood rose by more than 15 percent — about double the increase citywide. In roughly the same period, the number of all family households in the CD grew by 13.6 percent — more than three times the rate in Seattle at large. Along the way, something else changed significantly. Whites became the largest racial group — more than 40 percent — in a community where blacks had outnumbered them by more than 2-to-1 in 1990.

They also include a passing mention of an unnamed "community blog".  Unfortunately they didn't include a link that we could add to our blogroll....

Also today: Madrona resident Danny Westneat has a column that asks "Who could have saved Quincy Coleman". He gives some of the story of Quincy's family and how they tried to keep him on the right track. There's also a good quote from East Precinct alum John Hayes about the kind of personalized intervention that should be happening with at-risk kids like Quincy:

When he was 13, Quincy bought a gun from a 15-year-old for $100. Police say that moment ought to have clanged alarm bells throughout the system.

"When did anyone come together after that report — a 13-year-old buying a gun — to say: What are we going to do to get this kid back on track?" says John Hayes, director of community relations for the Seattle police. "I'm including my own department in that. Did we have an officer visit the home? That's the level of work we all need to be doing here."

For a long time we've had a serious shortage of breakfast options here in the neighborhood.  And that meant we had to go slumming on Capitol Hill or other far off lands to get a decent set of eggs or biscuits & gravy.  

But last weekend we made our first trip to MezzaLuna for their weekend brunch, and it was definitely worth our while. They've got a small menu but everything we tried was really tasty.  My dining companions had quiche, pancakes, and eggs that they all enjoyed.  I had my usual:  biscuits and gravy with two eggs over easy.  The B&G with sausage gravy was good, and the eggs were perfectly done.

They've also got their daily menu of homemade pastries and coffee to enjoy, and tonight their having a special Fettucine Friday dinner from 6:30 - 9:30pm.

One message was repeated by several officials at last night's safety forum:  enforcement and arrests won't ever be able to solve our problems with kids and violence. So one key part of the meeting was a call to action for the community to get involved on the prevention side, by volunteering and supporting the organizations that already work with our youth in the neighborhood.

A variety of group leader attended and made their pitches to the crowd for support.  And I'll be totally honest:  it seems like many leaders in the community service world have a problem speaking plainly and communicating what they need.   I'm sure they're all doing some good things, but in several cases it was very difficult to get a real feel for what a group was trying to accomplish and how people could help.

But here's two groups that had a clearly defined mission and good opportunities for citizen involvement:

Rotary Boys and Girls Clubs: Patrick Carter gave a rousing speech about being "fed up with these kids killing each other." He said the Boys and Girls Club has been active in the community since 1954, serving up to 100 kids every day with after school activities to keep the off the streets and involved in things that challenge them in positive ways.  But they're under severe pressure due to government budget cuts and need to raise $1 million soon. You can donate online, or contact them to volunteer your time.

YMCA:  Paula Houston is in charge of a very successful branch of the YMCA at 23rd & E. Olive.  They've got a successful set of after school programs that could definitely use your help.  Visit their website to find out how to volunteer or make a donation.

Here's some other programs that were mentioned that you might be interested in supporting:

Street Soldiers - Alive & Free - Work to addresses the disease of violence

City Year - "Taps the power of 17-24 year olds with leadership development through service learning."

Austin Foundation - "Transforming lives through fitness"

Seattle Young People's Project - "The Seattle Young People's Project (SYPP) is youth being given a loudspeaker for our opinions and views — a loudspeaker that is often denied us because of our age..."

Stay tuned for part 3:  Community Q&A

A big crowd of neighbors showed up tonight to listen and speak to city officials about the Halloween shooting of Quincy Coleman. The East Precinct's Captain McDonagh gave a brief recap of the shooting, saying that there were a number of kids hanging on on the east side of the playfield along 25th. A gun was displayed as a vehicle drove by, causing the kids to scatter before shots rang out, hitting Quincy and another boy. Quincy collapsed at the bottom of the nearby stairs that go down to the playfield. The second kid ran to the Teen Life Center that's part of the new gym and theater complex. The captain once again stressed that the shooting happened on the public sidewalk and had nothing to do with Garfield nor with the Teen Life Center.

No suspect has been taken into custody yet as part of the shooting. But the captain did say that there are lots of rumors going around that kids know who was involved. Police urge anyone with any information to contact police or through an anonymous text of call to Crime Watchers.

Captain McDonagh also said that the police department has made a lot of changes to their patrols since Garfield students returned to the campus this year after being gone for two years due to the big remodel. This includes a full time officer assigned to the school during the day, plus additional enforcement through increased patrols and plain clothed officers doing enforcement around the campus. The officer who now works at the school was described as a sort of member of the faculty. The goal is to get him to interact with the kids on a mentoring and teaching basis, not just for punitive actions.

The captain also said that there have been an increase of thefts and robberies around the school during lunch and at each end of the school day. Police have increased patrols during those hours to try and prevent those sorts of events.

Assistant Police Chief Nick Metz also spoke, saying that the safety of kids and residents in the area around Garfield is currently the department's number one priority. They've been working with a number of outside agencies to address the problem and have deployed additional gang officers and other central resources into neighborhood. However, he said that there have not been any patrol officers that have been permanently transferred from more docile parts of the city to the East Precinct.

It was a long meeting so I'm breaking this up into 3 separate reports.  Stay tuned for part 2 of our summary: opportunities for how you can get involved in some community organizations that are trying to address problems with youth violence.

I know there mixed feelings around here about public crime meetings.  A lot of you feel like it's just talk and emotion and feel-better-ism. But I think that this is one meeting that it would be good to have a big turnout for. The killing of 15-year-old Quincy Coleman was the last straw in what was a very violent October, and it's time that we make a full court press as a community to let the city's leadership know that we want some immediate action on neighborhood.

So please make time in your Thursday evening to head over to the Garfield gym and make your feelings known, at least by your presence if not by your words.

I'm sure you've walked past the synagog at 15th & Union and noticed the four old columns standing there by themselves.  I've always wondered what that corner must have looked like back when those columns actually supported a building. 

This week I got a peek at it on the endlessly cool Vintage Seattle site:

Photo courtesy Deran Ludd and Vintage Seattle

A commenter there says the temple was built in 1908 and torn down in the early 70s due structural issues.

We've got a number of very cool old temples that still survive in the neighorhood, but this was by far the most ornate. Too bad it isn't still around.

Reader G.S. sent us a copy of a police report about some of the out-of-control activity that's been going on at a vacant duplex in the 2400 block of S. Washington Street, just a bit east of Pratt Park.  The report is from just after noon on October 7th when members of the Community Policing Team responded to help the owners and the city secure the property.

Here's how the report describes what's been going on there:

This location has been the source of numerous complaints of gang related criminal activity.  In fact, several guns were recovered from this particular property, which was believed to be a vacant property. In the past, callers have reported that they believed that juvenile females were being raped and that these male subjects were promoting prostitution of these female subjects for profit.

As they searched the upper floor, several kids ran out the back, ignoring police commands to stop.  But he was soon found hiding in the brush nearby and was arrested for trespassing and booked into juvenile hall. It turns out that the kid lives in Auburn and had been sleeping in the vacant house for the last several days. His mother was described as "very cooperative" when contacted and promised to work with his probation officer to get him back on track.

Vacant properties are often a huge magnet for crime. If you've got one near you, the east precinct's Community Policing Team can work with you to help clean it up.  Contact them at 206-684-4370.