Firefighters found one victim and battled a blaze inside a one and a half story detached garage being used as a residence at 1717 E Columbia 810 17th Ave early Tuesday morning.

The fire was initially reported just before 1 AM as smoke blanketed the neighborhood and flames could be seen shooting from the apartment above the garage. Crews responded to find the roof of the building fully ablaze and were able to remove one victim in the initial minutes of the response. We do not yet have details of the victim’s condition. UPDATE: Seattle Fire reports that a 35-year-old male was transported to Harborview suffering from second degree burns and smoke inhalation. Investigators were waiting to interview the victim to help determine cause of the fire.

Crews continued to battle the stubborn blaze for nearly 20 minutes.

UPDATE #2: Seattle Fire is now reporting that the patient transported to Harborview is a 54-year-old man.

Ezell’s!, originally uploaded by Sweendo.

Blue=Protected bike lane. Green=Neighborhood Greenway. Red=Trail. Download full plan and map here

Last week, public comment about the latest draft of the Seattle Bike Master Plan wrapped up but the conversation on the next wave of the city’s bicycle planning has really just begun. Below, we’ve shared a look at the latest plan updates. You can provide your thoughts and feedback on the plan to the Seattle City Council transportation committee (email) who will take the plan up for discussion in September. For more on the planning process, check out Seattle.gov’s Seattle Bicycle Master Plan page.

By Tom Fucoloro/Seattle Bike Blog
In general, the updated Bike Master Plan includes a lot of bold and smart projects. We noted many in our analysis of the first draft. This post focuses mainly on the changes between drafts.

The biggest changes between the bold (almost surprisingly so) first draft and new one are on some of the busier streets in the Capitol Hill, First Hill, Central District and downtown areas. For example, protected bike lanes on Madison, Boren and Fairview have been dropped entirely.

But some exciting ideas have been added, like an extended protected bikeway on 10th Ave E from 520 (and its proposed bike path) to the under-construction Broadway Bikeway. The plan also calls for protected bike lanes on Pike Street from 2nd Ave to Broadway (which should be extended to Madison). Both are ideas we suggested in our analysis of the first draft.

Continue reading →

For one night only, the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute (LHPAI) is screening the film Big Words, a dramedy set in Brooklyn on the eve of the 2008 presidential election. The screening will take place on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Big Words, directed by Neil Drumming, is Slamdance’s 2013 Official Selection. LHPAI has more about the film:

The film centers on three members of a once promising hip-hop crew as their paths cross again: former front man John, once known as Big Words, is now a working class guy who still raps but lacks an audience. James is now a publicist living with his boyfriend, far removed from the days when he rhymed about getting girls. DJ Malik still spins records and longs for his glory days. Together, on the day of the landmark election, the friends struggle with dreams unfulfilled and hopes for the future. The film stars Dorian Missick, Yaya Alafia, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Darien Sills-Evans, Zachary Booth and Jean Grae.

“As a city that appreciates independent films and has a thriving hip hop community, Big Words is a can’t-miss film for Seattleites. It gives the over-40 crowd who has been and is still immersed in hip hop a subtle voice of how time changes us, and it gives the young fresh hip hop community a view into the impact of dreams deferred,” says LHPAI artistic director, Jacqueline Moscou.

Tickets are $10 at brownpapertickets.com or at the LHPAI box office on day of screening; the box office opens at 2 p.m.

Hello Earth Productions marks its third annual “Outdoor Star Trek” performances starting this weekend. The performances will be July 27th at 7pm, July 28th at 2pm, August 3 at 7pm, and August 4 at 2pm in Dr. Blanche Lavizzo Park’s amphitheater. They’ll be performing “The Devil In The Dark,” the 26th episode of the first Star Trek season.

Hello Earth has more details:

The classic episode has the crew of the Enterprise investigating a mysterious monster, only to discover a new life form called a Horta. Joy DeLyria directs, and the show features Kris Hambrick as Captain James T. Kirk, Helen Parson as Mr. Spock, and live music. The show is free and open to the public.

Outdoor Trek is a community project which celebrates the diversity of the original series, while at the same time adapting it to the 21^st century, outdoor theater, and community. The inspiration is half sci-fi, half Shakespeare. Shakespeare in the park is a well-loved tradition, offering free theater, a social gathering in the sunshine, and a familiar, classic story. Hello Earth presents a new classic, just as beloved, only this time in outer space.

“The Devil In The Dark” was written by Gene L. Coon, and was the twenty-sixth episode of the first season. It is highly regarded among fans, memorable due to the strange and yet compelling life form known as the Horta. Arthur C. Clarke said of the episode, “It impressed me because it presented the idea, unusual in science fiction then and now, that something weird, even dangerous, need not be malevolent.”  Hello Earth uses this idea to promote the themes of diversity and understanding inherent in Star Trek, which can be seen not only in the friendly-yet-terrifying Horta, but through cast, props, and sets. In a world of infinite diversity, Kirk and Spock can be played by women, beach balls can be alien eggs, and phasers can be water hoses. Star Trek is a dream of the future brought to you by your TV screen; Hello Earth brings that dream to your backyard.

Hello Earth recommends that attendees bring cushions, as the amphitheater is made of concrete. Though there is no charge to attend, the production company does accept donations.

Federal agents have again raided a marijuana dispensary at E Madison and 23rd Ave.

Seattle Cross, located at 2315 E John, issued a statement to customers Thursday, a day after agents served warrants and raided operations around the Puget Sound region:

The same dispensary was raided by the Drug Enforcement Agency in fall of 2011. No charges were filed following the 2011 raid.

Wednesday’s raid was part of DEA operations in three counties against the same set of dispensaries also raided in 2011. In the previous raids, the Department of Justice claimed the dispensaries failed “to abide by state medical marijuana guidelines,” “were distributing large amounts of drugs,” and “laundering large amounts of money.”

The DEA issued only the following short statement following Wednesday’s raids.  ”Several search warrants were executed today involving marijuana storefronts in King, Thurston and Pierce Counties.”

The Seattle Cross location is one of a small handful of dispensary-type operations making their homes on the Hill including a longtime provider on 15th Ave E and a storefront on Broadway. These other marijuana providers were apparently not part of the most recent wave of DEA anti-pot activity in the region.

The raids follow the conviction of the owner of a Seattle marijuana cooperative earlier this year on federal drug charges.

With the legalization of recreational pot in Washington, Seattle is working on solutions for integrating the newly legal behavior into day to day life. Making pot smoking in public a ticketable offense could be one change. Sorting out pot rules — and rights — for renters will be another. City Attorney Peter Holmes will meet with the City Council Friday afternoon to update members of the Housing, Human Services, Health and Culture Committee on “City Policies on Public Consumption of Marijuana.”

The local advocacy group Upping Technology for Underserved Neighborhoods (UPTUN) is collecting signatures on a letter to Seattle Department of Transportation asking for changes that would help bring broadband improvements to the Central District and Beacon Hill.

UPTUN’s blog has more details on the efforts:

Hey all, UPTUN’s going to be sending a letter to SDOT to try to force some change to the Director’s Rule that’s effectively blocking new broadband equipment from rolling out in Beacon Hill and the other underserved areas of Seattle.  Most of us are stuck with the choice of a cable provider or nothing for high-speed internet.  Well, we’re all tired of it.  It’s time to take action.

 

UPTUN plans to collect as many signatures as possible before mailing the letter on Saturday. If you’re interested in reading the letter and signing it, read the full letter here and then click over to the UPTUN blog and leave a comment with your (real) name and affiliation — for example, “John Doe (owner, Central District Widgets).”

The Seattle Fire Department and SPD’s arson and bomb squad are investigating a car apparently set on fire in the 2500 block of E Pine, the third suspicious care fire in the area since the end of May.

UPDATE: Seattle Fire investigators have determined the fire was intentionally set. SPD says detectives are investigating the arson as a possible hate crime:

Investigators are looking into the possibility of a bias crime as part of their arson investigation on a car that was deliberately set on fire early this morning in the Central District.

Shortly after 1:00 am, Seattle Police and Seattle Fire responded to a vehicle fire in the 2500 Block of East Pine Street.  Seattle Fire extinguished the flames, and detectives from the Arson/Bomb Unit responded.  Graffiti with racial epithets  was  spray-painted onto the car prior to the fire.  There were no injuries, but the vehicle, a 1990 Cadillac Deville, appears to be a total loss.  Anyone with information on this crime is asked to contact Seattle Police.

View Suspicious Car Fires in a larger map

In previous incidents, a Subaru was totally destroyed in a July 3rd incident at 21st and Pine. Earlier, a truck was destroyed in an apparently intentionally set fire at 24th and Thomas.

May 31: “In other news from the East Precinct, police are investigating a truck fire believe to have been set intentionally Friday morning at 24th and E Thomas. Seattle Fire responded to the blaze to the tucked away intersection a block from the main drags of E Madison and 23rd just before 4 AM. A subsequent investigation revealed signs of arson.”

July 3rd: “A suspicious car fire at 21st and E Pine drew a fire response, police and an investigation Wednesday night. According to police radio, the department’s bomb squad was notified of the incident but did not respond. We’ll update with more information when we get it. UPDATE: An eyewitness reports: “early 2000′s Subaru legacy wagon. Total loss. Fire started in passenger cabin. Owner was a non neighborhood resident (I think).” UPDATEx2: Seattle Fire tells us fire investigators determined that somebody set fire to the locked Subaru Legacy causing $7200 in damage.”

There are few details yet released on this latest incident first reported just before 1 AM Wednesday. We are continuing to update the story as information comes in.