A notice of a $10,000 reward has been posted on a 23rd Ave house after a Seattle Fire Marshal determined that an early Saturday morning blaze inside the structure was intentionally set. Below is the Seattle Fire Department brief on the incident.

The 2:54 AM fire was extinguished quickly and damage was contained to a back bedroom where the blaze started, according to SFD. Red Cross responded to provide shelter for the home’s occupants.

The 810 square-foot house was built in 1910 and is directly across the street from Garfield High School. It is owned by a Haile Yitref of Bellevue who acquired the property in September 2011. Across the alley to the south stands the 23rd and Alder duplex where police cleared a group of occupiers this January. That property, by the way, was also remains in the possession of Denmark West.

The reward notice is posted by a foundation that supports the program. Anybody with information is encouraged to call 1-800-55-ARSON. A full arson investigation is underway.

Seattle Fire Investigator Determines Early Morning House Fire is Incendiary

October 20—A Seattle Fire Investigator determined an early morning fire at a Central District home was determined to be an incendiary fire. The Seattle Police Department’s Arson Bomb Squad is conducting an investigation into the fire.

The first 911 call came into dispatchers at the Fire Alarm Center at 2:54 a.m. reporting a fire in a room of a home located in the 300 block of 23rd Avenue. Firefighters discovered a fire in a back bedroom of the home. Crews were able to contain the flames to the back bedroom. Flames were extinguished within 14 minutes.

The first floor of the home sustained smoke damage. No one was injured. The Red Cross was called to provide temporary shelter for the occupants of the home.

The damage estimate is $40,000 to the structure and $8,000 to the contents.

It may have taken 40 years, the clean-up of massively contaminated soil, a City Council-approved re-zone and federal funding to help make it happen, but Capitol Hill Housing’s latest project to bring affordable housing to Seattle is ready to celebrate its grand opening with a ceremony and tours Friday afternoon:

A polluted lot in central Seattle, vacant for forty years, has been transformed into “The Jefferson” – a vibrant new affordable housing and retail construction project. On October 19, Capitol Hill Housing (CHH) will hold a grand opening for this beautiful building with 40 units of affordable housing and 4,500 square feet of commercial space designed for local businesses.

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The celebration will feature a tour of the project and remarks from Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, CHH CEO Christopher Persons, and other officials from the State of Washington and King County.

The Jefferson Grand Opening Celebration

Friday October 19, 2012

2 – 4pm: Tour of the project

3pm: Remarks and Reception

(Image: Josh Okrent/Capitol Hill Housing)

Designed by 15th Ave E’s Environmental Works, The Jefferson stands six stories and incorporates a roster of green features including “heat recovery ventilation units, high performing windows, a low energy elevator and an ultra-high efficiency gas system.” Its 40 one and two-bedroom apartments are designated affordable — “for workers earning up to $36,000 for a single person or $41,000 for a two-person family (60% of the median income)” as CHH puts it. And while the first tenant of the 5,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space — a physical therapy facility — hasn’t exactly wowed neighbors looking forward to the new businesses in the area, the fact that The Jefferson exists at all is worth celebrating.

The city had taken possession of the contaminated lot and was looking for a plan to put it to use. After a decade of inaction, in 2008, the land was given to Capitol Hill Housing. In 2009, soil testing indicated that gasoline and benzene levels from a gas station that operated at the location starting in 1926 were hundreds of times above the state’s cleanup standards. But with a financial boost from King County, the site began cleanup efforts in fall of 2010.

Perhaps more remarkable than cleaning up a site with massively high benzene levels, the roster of parties involved in financing the project is testament to the challenge of creating an affordable housing project of this scale:

• City of Seattle Office of Housing
• Washington Works (State of Washington, Washington State Housing Finance Commission)
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — federal appropriation
• KeyBank — construction and permanent lender
• Union Bank — Low Income Housing Tax Credit Investor
• Impact Capital and HomeSight — pre-development financing

It all adds up to a fully-leased building and a new group of neighbors already moved-in and enjoying life at 12 and Jefferson.

Story originally published at our sister site Capitol Hill Seattle.

Police searched the area near Pratt Park Tuesday afternoon after a reported armed robbery at 19th Ave’s Good Neighbors Grocery.

Details available from SPD’s public information office are light due to staffing but we know the crime is being investigated as an armed robbery and a search for the suspect fanned out across the area just before 2:30p Tuesday. The suspect was described as a black male, wearing a tan coat over a plaid jacket and a plaid rain hat. He was last seen near 19th and Jackson. Preliminary information from SPD radio indicates that a person matching this description was contacted by officers. We do not have information on any arrests.

Earlier in the day, the grocery mart at Broadway and Jefferson was robbed and an employee assaulted. Medics responded to the scene around 12:45p to treat the victim’s injuries. We do not have additional suspect information at this time.

Seattle Public Schools is planning some big changes in the neighborhood in the next couple years, including reopening Meany Middle School and moving NOVA back to a renovated Horace Mann building at 24th and Cherry.

Our sister site Capitol Hill Seattle has gathered more details about the Building Excellence IV plan and why Seattle Public Schools is proposing a $23 million investment to rebuild the 20th at E Republican campus into a full-fledged middle school.

The short answer: There will soon be even more young teens in need of education in Central Seattle.

According to spokesperson Teresa Wippel, the SPS proposal for reopening Meany Middle School is largely based on demographic studies conducted by Seattle Schools and a hired demographic expert. From the studies, SPS forecast a steady increase in middle school student enrollment for the Central Region over the next 10 years.

(Source: Seattle Public Schools)

For the Central Region, SPS is planning to take a more conservative approach, and use the mid-range projection shown above.  As you can see, the mid-range projection envisions an increase of almost 600 students enrolling in middle schools over the next decade.

SPS cited a few interesting reasons why its foresees a growth in middle school enrollment in the coming years:

1. With the drop in housing values, people are staying put and not moving out to the suburbs, where the schools are supposedly better
2. The improving transportation infrastructure (light rail, street cars) makes living in the city a more attractive option
3. Given the tough economic conditions, parents are less able to send their children to private schools, and as a result there will be more students attending public schools. 

According to Tom Redman, SPS capital communications manager, some have proposed that SPS could save money and simply build more portables at existing schools to deal with the burgeoning enrollment.  However, he said this option is fraught with problems.  In addition to the fact that portables are not the ideal learning environment (if you’ve ever attended classes in a portable, you will likely agree), building more portables and increasing the size of existing schools places added stress on the schools’ infrastructures, most notably the need for more lunch periods, basic facilities such as restrooms, and additional custodial staff. 

The new school would be slated to open by the 2017/2018 school year. The $23 million price tag appears to be a relative bargain. A from-the-ground-up plan for a new middle school elsewhere in the city would cost more than $82 million according to SPS.

The NOVA alternative high school and the Secondary Bilingual Education Program have called the Meany campus home since moving there in 2009.

Schools officials say they are still considering public feedback (both pro and con), as well as having ongoing internal discussions about the plan.

We asked Kay Smith-Blum, school board member, for comment but have not yet heard back.

The discussion about Meany will continue until when Seattle School Board votes in November, and CHS/CDN will keep you informed as new developments surface. If you would like to submit feedback on the potential reopening of Meany Middle School, SPS encourages you to send your thoughts to [email protected]. 

While real bullets flew in this drive-by incident Monday night, police were also making a bust of following an alleged gun incident of another variety at 23rd Ave S’s Parnell’s:

Robbery near Judkins Park, suspect arrested

Written by Detective Mark Jamieson on October 2, 2012

Last night at about 11:00 pm, a suspect entered a mini mart in the 700 Block of 23 Avenue South and approached the clerk at the counter.  He indicated that he had a weapon and demanded of the clerk, “Give me all the money.”  The clerk thought he was kidding so he began laughing.  The suspect then pulled out what appeared to be a black semi-auto handgun from his waistband and pointed it at the clerk.

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A man who had been outside the store entered the store just at that moment.  The suspect turned and pointed the gun at him. That man ran and hid in the corner of the store.  The suspect then walked around the counter and put the barrel of the gun against the clerk’s chest and demanded that he open the till.  The suspect then took money out of the till.  The suspect then fled the store taking the money with him.  The clerk called 911 and watched as the suspect ran into nearby Judkins Park.

Responding officers located a possible suspect walking westbound through Judkins Park near 23rd Avenue South and South Charles Street.  The officer chased the suspect on foot until he lost sight of him in the 2000 Block of Charles Street.  Officers set up containment and a K-9 team responded to the location.  A track was conducted and the dog and its handler located the suspect in the driveway of a house in the 2000 Block of Charles Street.  The suspect was hiding under a parked car.  The victim was able to positively identify the man as the correct suspect.

During the investigation, officers recovered  some of the stolen money in the driveway and an Airsoft pellet gun.  A routine records check of the suspect revealed that he had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant, which was verified.  The 26 year old suspect was later booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Robbery and the theft warrant.  Detectives from the Robbery Unit will now handle the follow up investigation.

A man crossing at 12th and Cherry in his wheelchair was struck by a semi-truck early Friday morning and sent to the hospital with significant injuries, according to the SPD brief on the incident. Police say they stopped the truck driving away from the 1a collision and found the man’s wheelchair wedged beneath the truck. Police say the investigation into the incident continues but the driver showed no signs of impairment at the scene and was not arrested.

Semi truck strikes man in wheel chair
Just shortly after 1:00 a.m. this morning an unmarked SPD detective unit onviewed an adult male double amputee lying in the intersection of 12 Av/E Cherry St. (previous condition, not a result of this collision) At the same time, they noticed a semi truck travelling west on E. Cherry St away from the male.

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The detectives stopped the semi truck at Broadway Av/E Cherry St and located a wheelchair underneath the front portion of the semi truck. It is believed the male in the wheelchair was crossing north to south in the marked crosswalk at 12 Av/E Cherry St and was struck by the semi truck.

The 50-year-old male pedestrian was treated on scene by Seattle Fire Department and transported to Harborview Medical Center via Medics with substantial injuries.

The 33-year-old male truck driver was evaluated on scene by a Drug Recognition Expert unit, no signs of impairment were detected.

Traffic Collision Investigators responded and processed the scene. The investigation continues.

It’s been a week in the Central District full of gunplay — but, so far, no apparent injuries. The week started, however, with more signs of violence. Here’s a brief from SPD on a Jetta found riddled with bullet holes and with blood on its passenger side seat:

Police are trying to piece together how a bullet-riddled, bloody Volkswagen Jetta came to be parked in front of a Central District home Monday morning.

Around 7:30 am Monday, police got a call about the car, found parked in front of a driveway near 26th Avenue and E Yesler Way. The car had five bullet holes along the driver’s side, blood on the passenger seat, two shattered windows, and was missing a tire. No one was in the car.

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Officers then found a trail of debris from the car—mostly fluid and small pieces that had fallen off the car—and tracked it all the way back to Colman Park near Lake Washington.

After checking through 911 records, officers learned there had been report of four to six gunshots in Colman Park about eight hours before the car was found.

Officers contacted the car’s owner to try and clear up what had happened, but the owner claimed the car was stolen Sunday night in south Seattle, about one hour before the reported shooting.

Officers knocked on the door of the home the car was found in front of, and spoke with a man who initially said he didn’t know anything about the car. He later admitted a woman he knows had shown up at his home, and said she’d been shot at and chased by another driver. He didn’t offer up much info about the woman’s identity. Police weren’t able to track down the woman.

The car was impounded and detectives are continuing to investigate the case.

Details from Monica’s Village:

Please join us for a fundraiser featuring arts and crafts vendors in Monica’s Village Place I, an affordable housing unit for African American working families and individuals transitioning from homelessness. Proceeds will go to updating the computer room in Monica’s Village Place I. There will also be a door prize to win a $100 gift card to Walgreens! Join us for light snacks and music!

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Contact: Sheila Marie

[email protected]

206.251.7035

 

Date: Sunday, October 14, 2012 1:00PM-4:00PM

 

Location: Monica’s Village Place I

140 23rd Avenue South, Suite 140

Seattle, WA 98144

 

Monica’s Village Place I is 51 units of new, affordable housing in Seattle’s Central Area, at the intersection of 23rd Avenue South and South Main Streets, consisting of one, two, and three bedroom apartments and townhomes.  All units are affordable to families making 30% to 50% of the area median household income. The building is oriented around a central courtyard containing a play area for children and a healing/reflection garden. MVPI has made available to the community a beautiful multipurpose room, including kitchen, sound system, AV equipment and other amenities. All revenue from the room rental goes to supplement Family Services funding for the residents. For more information visit www.ccsww.org/villagespiritcenter or call 206-323-7130 ext. 20, or download and complete the application and mail to: Anthony Davis, Monica’s Village Place I, 140 23rd Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98144.

Like the preview on the event page for Sunday’s Central District Community Flea Market says, where else are you going to find this?

We told you earlier this summer about plans for a community sale hosted by the Neighbor Lady and Twilight Exit in the Key Bank parking lot. Sunday, the shopping goes all day. The market runs 10a to 4p. You’ll find the fun at 23rd and Union.

UPDATE: A few photos from our visit are below. Have any to add? Let us know in comments or mail [email protected]