Stories

A reader pointed me to this PI story from earlier in the week, announcing a new deal between the developers of the big project on the Goodwill property and the surrounding communities that have been very outspoken against it.   

Some of the concessions listed in the story aren't new.  For example, the project has always had 200 units of affordable housing.    Here's the new pieces that I haven't heard of before:

Hire contractors that pay prevailing wages, provide health and retirement benefits, participate in minority- and women-owned business programs, strive to hire local residents through pre-apprentice programs and ensure that apprentices perform 15 percent of all work hours.

Ensure that grocery and drugstores stay neutral if employees decide to unionize and apply the same standards to janitors, security officers and other employees of the development.

Offer below-market rents on 5,000 square feet of space in the project to community nonprofits, equating to $1 million worth of rent subsidies.

Contribute $2...

The Sept. 4th Seattle Times has a very informative obituary about Al Smith Sr., who photographed the Central District: he "single-handedly documented African-American community life here for a half-century".

His work is  at MOHAI, the African-American Museum and the 23rd & Jackson Starbucks, and in the book "Jackson Street After Hours"

Perhaps we can collectively carry on his work.

It doesn't take much searching to find fresh graffiti around the neighborhood.  This summer there's been an explosion of it across Seattle.  

So how about starting a community project on your block to help clean it up?   

The city has a cool program that will get you all set up with a wagon full of paint, brushes, and other supplies to let you and your neighbors paint out the tags and other unwelcome additions that may have cropped up on your block.

And our local graffiti experts say that it works over the long term.  As you paint over graffiti-prone spots, the artists eventually get discouraged and will move on to other spots.

Of course there are a couple hurdles.  You'll have to attend a quick training course to make sure you don't get hurt or get the city in legal trouble.  And you'll have to get the approval of private property owners before you clean up anything on their turf.

Here's what you can do:

1. Call the Red Wagon support line at 206-684-3096 and get hooked up with a training session
   
2. Take your very own Red...

Yes, the weather's still lovely, and we should be out enjoying it. Nonetheless, it's important for Sally Clark's Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee to hear from us.

The 1996-1998 Neighborhood Planning process resulted in many good ideas, but also helped form lots of lasting relationships between people and organizations who might not otherwise have got together. I felt that it helped us all understand each other a bit better. We (especially the City) were all kind of making it up as we went along. But by the end, we all seemed to be pretty happy with the process and the result.

A decade's gone by, and it's time to re-evaluate where we are (and where we'd like to be). Surely we can benefit from all our experience last time? For the rest see:

http://millerparkseattle.blogspot.com/2008/09/monday-council

Here's the full story on this shooting and police stand-off that went down just after noon today.   It started at 12:28pm when multiple people placed calls to 911 to report that a man had fired 2-3 shots in the Red Apple parking lot near the Subway.   He was described as a black male, 20s, with a silver & black windbreaker & cornrows.   

Police arrived and could not find any victims of the shooting at the scene.  It's not immediately clear what they were shooting at.   

Washington Middle School at 22nd & Jackson went into lockdown for about an hour as a precaution.

Witnesses described seeing the suspect run with at least one other man through the parking lot and into the neighborhood to the south.    Police then began a search for them in the area south of Jackson, and saw two men who matched the suspect descriptions enter a duplex in the 900 block of 28th Ave S.   Units then converged on that location and 2-hour stand-off ensued.

The first people to leave the residence were two women with a young child.  They must...

I'm at the scene of this stand-off on 29th S. One suspect has come out. They're calling on the PA for an additional man to come out. This is connected to the shots fired at the Red Apple that was in todays scanner report. The first people to come out of the house were two women and a baby. Then about 15 minutes later a teenaged man emerged and was taken into custody.

It's not clear if the remaining person in the house is a suspect or just a resident. There's repeated calls on the PA for them to come out or call 911 to speak to police.

Update: 2:03pm - still waiting. But my fellow looky-loos are getting restless. Says one: "there weren't this many copsback when I had that robbery a couple years ago"

Update:. 2:25pm - still waiting. There's been some movement of cops with ballistic shields, but that's

Update: 2:45pm - the second occupant has surrendered peacefully. Police are preparing to enter the home

Update: 2:56pm - the house has checked clear. Standoff over Pics and video when I get back to the...

Where was all of this nice weather in August?  Here's the report from the sunny streets of Seattle's East Precinct (and other parts of the city if they're worthy):

You may have seen this one on the scanner this morning, where two men armed with a gun broke into an occupied house and stole a variety of jewlery, cash, and other items from the female homeowner.    Police say the she was asleep at the time and was assaulted in the process.  

Officials have identified one suspect in the shooting and are asking for the public's help in finding him:

• Anthony R. Dodd
• Black male
• 19 years old
• 6'2", 210 bls
• Black hair 
• Brown eyes
• Has a large scar on his chin

His accomplice is only described as an asian male.

Police warn that the suspects are considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached.  Call 911 or Crime Stoppers (1-800-CRIME-13) if you have any information regarding the crime.

After two years of construction, today was the big day for the official unveiling of an extensively remodeled Garfield High School.

We've got two videos of the event.  The first has highlights from the ceremony, while the second gives a quick tour of the building.

The changes are pretty dramatic.  They've taken a run-down building and transformed it into a shiny new facility with all the modern technology.   There's computers and LCD projectors in many of the rooms, fully equipped science rooms, and a lot of space and light.     But unlike new construction, it has all of the exterior charm of the original.   

We'd been watching the construction for a while, and wondered whether they would be finished in time for the school year.  I can tell you they're still cutting it close.  The building was swarming with construction crews that were sanding, painting, and installing equipment.  With school starting tomorrow, it looks like things may be a bit chaotic for the first several weeks as various things are finished up....

Happy Labor Day!  I can't believe it's already September.   Here's what will probably be an abbreviated report of East Precinct shennanigans:

Here's what we can piece together for this event tonight:

At 11:55pm, medics and officers responded to a 911 report of a shooting at 18th & Yesler.  At some point police connected the shooting to a Black Hyundai Accent hatchback, and began a pursuit of that vehicle all over the neighborhood, with police cars flying in all directions with lights and sirens blazing. 

No victim was found at the site of the shooting at 18th & Yesler, and police haven't been able to find or call the original complainant in that event.

SPD's official policy is to not engage in high-speed pursuits due to the potential for injury to innocent bystanders.  At some point the pursuit must have crossed that threshold, as it was called off in the area of 32nd & Cherry, with the vehicle last seen headed northbound.

A short time after that, police received a new report of an accident involving a black hatchback at 30th & E. Howell. Police arrived there quickly and identified the vehicle as the one involved in the pursuit.  Witnesses described seeing...

Quincy Jones, possibly the most famous son of the CD, is the subject of a big feature in today's Pacific Northwest Magazine.   He grew up in a small house on 22nd Ave, just a couple of blocks away from Garfield High School where he graduated in 1950.

Here his brother describes looking out the window of the top-floor room that was shared by seven siblings:

"We would look out there," recalls Jones' youngest brother, Richard, now a federal judge in Seattle, "and think, 'What is it I can possibly do? Where is life going to take me?' We weren't looking at a spectacular lake. We grew up looking at the blackberry bushes and garbage in the lot across the street. You had to have a big imagination."

Mr. Jones will be in Seattle on September 26th to dedicate the new Quincy Jones Performing Arts Center at Garfield.

I was out walking the dog, on my way back from getting a picture for another story, when I heard a loud crash a couple of blocks away.  We headed that direction and found a two-vehicle accident at the corner of 20th & Cherry.

A witness who lives about a block south said that he saw the maroon 4-door going northbound on 20th at "about 90 miles an hour."  He yelled at the vehicle as it passed, and then heard the crash as it blew the stop sign on Cherry and struck a red Toyota.   It wasn't immediately clear which way the Toyota was traveling.

Another witness who lives on the corner heard the crash and looked outside in time to see the red vehicle spinning across the intersection and the maroon car come to a rest on the sidewalk.  They said that several other bystanders witnessed the entire event but left once it became clear that police would be arriving.

Both drivers appeared to be injured.  The driver of the maroon car was sitting on the curb when I arrived, and was being placed onto a back brace by medics as I left....

Yesterday the folks who live on 20th between Marion & Union gave us all an example of how to build a strong community in the neighborhood. For the last four years, Chef Brenda Lee has worked with her neighbors to host a big block party with amazing food, cold drinks, and a lot of fun.   About 50 people took over the street in the middle of the block and spent the chilly evening getting to know each other a little better.

Here's a sample:

Wouldn't it be great to have about a dozen of these spread across the neighborhood over the course of next summer?