Police nabbed an alleged peeper on Seattle University’s campus early this morning. The suspect had scaled a university apartment building and climbed onto a third-floor balcony. The SPD Blotter has the full details:

Officers arrested a suspected peeper early this morning after the man scaled a wall and climbed onto a third-floor balcony of a Seattle University apartment building.

At about 3:30 AM, a woman called police and campus security after she and her roommate heard noises outside a bedroom window and saw the man standing on the balcony of their apartment, near 12th Avenue and E. Cherry Street.

When the woman asked the man what he was doing, he said he was looking for someone.

 

When officers arrived at the scene, the suspect refused to speak with police or come down from the balcony.

Officers called in a Seattle Fire Department ladder truck, climbed the ladder and took the man into custody.

The suspect then told officers some “party poopers” had told him to scale the building walls and masturbate.

 

Officers then booked the man—who had reportedly been spotted pacing outside the apartment building about four hours before the incident—into the King County Jail for investigation of voyeurism.

The plan for laying a fat pipe to much of Capitol Hill and the Central District is a gigabit or two closer to fruition.

Gigabit Squared Seattle is building a high-speed fiber network to 14 areas of the city and said Monday its pipeline of broadband goodness will be ready to flow to the first service areas in Capitol Hill, the Central District and near UW by early 2014:

Gigabit Squared’s simplified fiber network pricing plans for Seattle will be structured as follows:

1. Installation Charge:  Installation charges will be waived for customers signing a one-year contract for 100 Mbps service or greater.  Otherwise, a $350 installation fee is required.
2. Service Plan Options:

Plan A:

• 5 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload: No charge for 60 months
• 5/1 Mbps services are transferrable to new renters or owners
• After 60 months renters or owners can convert to a 10 Mbps download/10 Mbps upload service plan for only $10 per month

Plan B:

• 100 Mbps download/100 Mbps upload for $45 per month
• No installation charge with one- year contract

Plan C:

• 1000 download/1000 upload Mbps for $80 per month

• No installation charge with one-year contract

The company says it will announce a sign-up “process” next month. The plan is for all 14 service areas reaching more than 100,000 customers to be online by the end of 2014. The company has said it intends to eventually offer its services across all of Seattle through the combination of public and private fiber optic cables already available in the city.

The partnership between the city and D.C.-based Gigabit will likely put pressure on services and prices offered by established providers in the area like Comcast, Century Link and Wave. You can let us know what you’re currently paying for broadband service in comments.

One proposal would make crossing Union safer at 19th Ave

The city’s Neighborhood Street Fund allows community members and groups to compete for grants they believe will make their streets safer and more accessible to more people.

Of 86 submitted projects, only five or six will likely receive funding. The projects with the best chance in the Central District include a safer crossing for people walking across Union at 19th Ave, an improved crossing of 19th Ave leading to the often-forgotten Pike St Staircase, a sidewalk improvement at Dearborn and Rainier Ave and two crossing improvements on 20th Ave S near Judkins Park (S Charles and S Norman Streets).

The projects were among eight originally submitted for the CD (see below for more details). The Bridging the Gap Oversight Committee is now working to pick their top choices, a decision they will likely make in early August. Details from SDOT:

The Bridging the Gap (BTG) Levy Oversight Committee has begun their final review of projects submitted through the Neighborhood Street Fund (NSF) Large Project program.  Funding for the program comes from the nine-year BTG transportation levy adopted by Seattle voters in 2006.  The levy provides $4.5M every three years to select, design and construct larger neighborhood projects identified by the community.

Applications for the third and final round of funding for the NSF projects closed in December with more than 86 possible projects submitted from neighborhoods all across the city.  Each District Council reviewed projects from their districts and forwarded their top three to the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) for further refinement of the projects. Over the past few months SDOT staff has worked with the project applicants to ensure that their projects meet construction and design standards.  In the end, 38 projects will be reviewed. The types of projects submitted ranged from new sidewalks, bike lanes and crossing improvements, to lighting and signal improvements.  It is anticipated that 5-7 projects will receive funding. Continue reading →

Forty-two King County Metro Transit and Sound Transit bus routes, including routes through the Central District, will be affected by major events on Saturday. Street closures for the Fremont Fair and the Rock & Roll Marathon will force these buses to operate on reroute, and delays due to traffic are expected.

The marathon affects Rapid Ride C & D Lines, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 21, 26, 27, 28, 36, 40, 43, 47, 49, 50, 66, 70, 82 (Friday night only), 99, 120, 124, 125, 131, 132, 358, ST 522, ST 545, ST 550 & ST 554. The fair and accompanying Solstice Parade will affect routes 26, 28, 31, 32 & 40. More information on the reroutes is available on the Metro website.

Drivers and bus riders should take a look at the Rock & Roll Marathon course map to avoid street closures and take note of potential traffic.

More information from King County Metro:

Most buses that travel through downtown Seattle will be rerouted until about 10 a.m. Saturday, however some routes will be rerouted until 3 p.m. Saturday. Most buses heading into Seattle from the north will turn back at Olive Way near Convention Place Tunnel Station (CPS). Most buses traveling toward downtown Seattle from the south will turn back at South Royal Brougham Way near the SODO Busway and Stadium Link light rail Station.

Travel options

Riders who need to travel through the downtown Seattle core are encouraged to travel via the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel during the event. Using regular transit service in the tunnel is a good way to get through the downtown area quickly.

Bus riders who want to travel between CPS and Royal Brougham can ride Metro routes in either direction. Riders who want to get to other downtown destinations have additional options. From Stadium Station, Link goes as far north as Westlake Tunnel Station. All buses northbound in any tunnel station go as far as CPS. For southbound riders traveling from CPS, all buses go at least as far as International District/Chinatown Station.

Metro will operate a free shuttle bus about every 20 minutes from 5:30-10:30 a.m. between South Alaska Street and South Henderson Street. Most other Rainier Valley bus service will not travel south of Mount Baker Transit Center during the event. Link light rail will operate its normal Saturday service and is a great way to get to and from the Rainier Valley.

The Seattle Times has a recap of last night’s mayoral forum:

Wednesday night’s Juneteenth mayoral forum in the Central District drew answers from the candidates on some tough questions about education and race. Once again, someone in the audience laughed out loud at one of Charlie Staadecker’s earnest answers, librarian Joey Gray told Frisbee stories, and Bruce Harrell referred to himself in the third person.

 

Former City Council member Peter Steinbrueck, still the subject of some head-scratching over his reading selection at a library forum this week, was not at the forum. He is out of town.

 

The candidates who were there had some tough talk for Seattle Public Schools. State Sen. Ed Murray said if he were mayor, he would forge a new partnership with the school district to increase the graduation rate.

To read the full story, click here.

The Energy Assistance Program at Centerstone (formerly the Central Area Motivation Program, located on 18th Ave and Cherry St.) has funding left for Puget Sound Energy  gas customers through the summer for Seattle residents who live at or below 150% of the federal poverty line.  Eligible clients can receive up to $1000towards their current or future PSE bills, with the average benefit for a new client hovering around $500.

Basic eligibility:

• Live within the Seattle City limits

• Have an open PSE account in your name

• Live at or below 150% of the federal poverty guidelines (net $1,396/month for a one person household, add $495 for each additional household member)

To schedule an appointment call 1-800-348-7144.  If you have trouble scheduling an appointment, please call back on the first business day of the week at 8 AM; this is when new appointments are added.  For other questions on eligibility, please visit www.center-stone.org or call 206-812-4940.