Starting at 3 p.m. today (Wednesday), folks will be serving up a fundraiser BBQ at Hollow Earth Radio’s 21st and Union studio.
Then at 9 this evening, swing by the studio or tune in online for the monthly Art Show, which is celebrating its one-year anniversary of featuring local music talent.
The event poster:
A new, energy-packed mural bursts from the western wall of the Chef Cafe building at 22nd and Jackson. Finished recently, the mural combines images of the neighborhood’s jazz history with a colorful, life-filled collage.
“It’s called ‘Music is Life,'” said Jake Wagoner, who designed the mural with Joseph Brooks.
The mural is the first of several planned along Jackson as part of the ongoing Jackson Street Music History Project, which launched by filling a vacant lot across the street from Washington Middle School with artwork.
The murals are created in conjunction with Urban Art Works, an organization that aims to empowers youth by providing the opportunity for them to help create public art.
Jackson Street Music History Project organizer Ryan Curren said they are still looking for another wall somewhere along Jackson from MLK to 12th. If you manage or own such a wall, get in touch.
You can check out more work by Wagoner at his website Flat Black, and work from Brooks at Facesandstuffdotcom.
Dulces Latin Bistro, which operated at 34th and Pike for 17 years before closing in early 2011, is moving again. Their new downtown location at Western and Union is closing at the end of the week, and they are looking for a small neighborhood to reopen. On the list: Madison, Madrona and Columbia City.
From Dulces owners Julie Guerrero and Carlos Kainz:
To all of our loyal and dear clients we have some news that we did not anticipate.
Dulces will be closing its doors at the end of July, The location which we chose has not been good for us and we have been struggling trying to make things work there.
We are going to try to find a place in a small neighborhood were we can reopen but that might take some time.
We will have a last wine tasting on Wednesday the 25th from 6 to 9 with some nice Argentinean wines and we will also have for sale our entire wine list at wholesale price
But they won’t likely return to their old spot. It’s now occupied by Pritty Boys Pizza.
Cappy’s Boxing Gym at 22nd and Union is the place where Queen Underwood built her strength in the ring. But before the Garfield grad ever faced a boxing challenger, she and her sister Hazzauna were facing a much different challenge as survivors of sexual assault by their father.
Now, with Queen in London getting ready to claim her gold medal, Cappy’s has decided to give their Olympic tickets to Hazzauna so she can root for her sister in person. From Cappy’s Facebook page:
Cappy’s Boxing Gym is thrilled to be part of the Road to Gold. History in the making and Hazzauna Underwood will be there to witness it! Good luck Queen Underwood!
A commenter on the Cappy’s post says you can help Hazzauna get there by pitching in on a (probably expensive at this point) plane ticket. See how here.
Before arresting Andrew Jermain Patterson (AKA “AP”) and charging him with second degree murder in the May shooting death of Justin Ferrari at MLK and Cherry, investigators pieced together evidence from a variety of sources: Witnesses, cell phone location data, ORCA card data, King County Metro bus cameras and YouTube videos. If found guilty, he could face up to 23 years in prison, prosecutors say.
While AP sits behind bars on $2 million bail, a person claiming to be his cousin (she requested to stay anonymous) wrote to CDNews saying that she believes he would not have committed this crime. From her letter:
I have known Andrew his whole life. He is my cousin. As far back as I can remember he has always been a loving son and cousin. As a child he was a quiet, shy little boy that enjoyed playing with his brother, sister and friends. You know typical little boy things. As a teenager pretty much the same sweet kind boy. Hanging out with family. I have never seen my cousin mad upset, I’ve always seen a sweet bright young man, always polite to others around him. I have never seen anger or hate or vengeance in his eye’s or smiles. He is a loving father to his one-year-old daughter, always doing what’s best for her and his wife. He loves his parents and family just as much. He is a good man and I don’t believe in my heart that he did this. And our family believes that he is not guilty of this crime. And I can say he loves being with his baby and wife.
The probable cause document filed along with the murder charges does not contain smoking gun evidence, but it does outline the extensive detective work that lead to the arrest. Police and prosecutors say several witnesses identified AP as the shooter, and cell phone and ORCA data puts him in the general area at the time.
The documents also outline some background on a group calling themselves “31 Racks,” which has been active on Cherry Street recently, police say.
Below are the documents (warning: the documents contain some graphic content). Keep in mind that we have yet to hear the defense’s case, and it is possible investigators have evidence that is not outlined here. His first court appearance is scheduled to be an 8:30 a.m. arraignment August 2 at King County Courthouse. If you have trouble reading the documents, see a pdf version here.
The man arrested Thursday on suspicion of killing Justin Ferrari at MLK and Cherry in May has been identified as Andrew Jermain Patterson, 20. He was charged with second degree murder Friday and is being held on $2 million bail. If convicted, he could face 15-23 years in prison, Seattle Times reports.
According to Patterson’s MySpace page (which has not been updated for a couple years) he is from “cherry 31st” but moved to Federal Way. Court documents show a range of past offenses both as a juvenile and an adult.
From the Times:
According to court records, Patterson has an arrest record that includes juvenile charges for third-degree theft, residential burglary and criminal trespass. He has never been convicted of a felony as an adult in King County, although he was arrested in April 2011 for possession of a controlled substance. The charge was reduced to misdemeanor criminal solicitation, court records show.
The documents say that Patterson, who was then 18, had raw and bloody knuckles when he was arrested for participating in a series of fistfights in downtown Seattle, according to the probable-cause statement in the case. When he was arrested, officers found 12 Ecstasy tablets in his basketball shorts and he told them he took the drug daily, the statement says.
Most recently, Patterson was charged in Auburn Municipal Court with fourth-degree domestic-violence assault. As part of that case, which is pending, the court ordered him on April 26 not to possess any firearms — one month before the shot that killed Ferrari was fired.
Patterson was arrested at a home in Federal Way after several witnesses descriptions, video surveillance from a bus, cell phone records and information from an informant pointed to him. Suspicious neighbors on 31st Ave, where police served a search warrant Thursday, also may have played a part in the case, though residents at the searched home denied their home was involved:
The neighbor said he had seen a young man at the home who matched a description given out by police after the shooting. He became suspicious and called police, he said, when the man disappeared after the shooting.
“I didn’t see him after that day, but he came back once this week,” the neighbor said.
Residents of the home that was searched on 31st Avenue, who also asked not to be named, denied Patterson had ever been a guest in the home. One resident said the raid on Thursday morning was “a case of mistaken identity.”
Ferrari, who lived with his wife and two children in Madrona, was driving a van westbound on Cherry at MLK May 24 when a bullet struck him in the head and killed him. His children and his parents—visiting from out of town—were in the van with him when he was killed. He died in his father’s arms. He was 42.
UPDATE 1:29pm: From the King County Prosecutor’s Office:
Andrew J. Patterson was charged this morning with Murder in the Second Degree for the May 24 shooting death of Justin Ferrari, who was killed by a stray bullet as he drove through Seattle’s Central District with his family. Patterson, 20, was in a dispute with another individual when he opened fire from across a street. A stray bullet struck Ferrari in the head as he was driving through an intersection with his parents and his two young children in the car. King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg praised the work of Seattle Police detectives Al Cruise and Russ Weklych, and members of the homicide and gang units. “This case is the result of outstanding investigative work by detectives with the Seattle Police Department who were relentless in their pursuit of the suspect,” Satterberg said. Patterson remains in jail on $2 million bail. Prosecutors filed a firearm enhancement with the murder charge, and if convicted as charged, the defendant would face a sentence of 15 to 23 years in prison under state sentencing law. Patterson’s first court appearance will be at arraignment on August 2 at 8:30 a.m. in courtroom 1201 at the King County Courthouse.
Justin Ferrari
UPDATE 7/20: Andrew Jermain Patterson has been charged with second degree murder. See our update for more.
UPDATE: Police have arrested the man suspected of shooting and killing Justin Ferrari. He was taken into custody in Federal Way Thursday, police say. They then served several related search warrants in and around the city.
From SPD:
Homicide detectives have arrested a 20-year-old man suspected of killing Justin Ferrari in the Central District in May.
Ferrari and was driving down Martin Luther King Jr. Way and E. Cherry Street with his family when the 20-year-old suspect opened fire on the street, striking striking and killing Ferrari as he drove past.
After combing through surveillance footage and working with the gang unit to chase down leads on their suspect, homicide detectives, SPD SWAT, and US Marshalls arrested Ferrari’s killer at a home in Federal Way Thursday.
Detectives, SWAT, and the gang unit served warrants at several other locations in Seattle and South King County.
“Detectives worked hard. Real hard. pretty much non-stop” since Ferrari was killed on May 24th, Homicide Sgt. Bob Vallor says.
Detectives are still interviewing the 20-year-old suspect, who will be booked into the King County Jail for investigation of homicide.
Ferrari, who lived with his wife and two children in Madrona, was driving a van westbound on Cherry at MLK May 24 when a bullet struck him in the head and killed him. His children and his parents—visiting from out of town—were in the van with him when he was killed. He died in his father’s arms. He was 42.
His death shook the neighborhood and reopened memories of other recent victims of gun violence. A tense, standing-room-only community forum showcased a community simultaneously torn apart and brought together by the ongoing epidemic of gun crime and senseless violence.
UPDATE 3:15pm: There are still several killings in the neighborhood that remain unsolved. Desmond Jackson, a longtime CD resident, was gunned down outside a SODO nightclub in February. Demicko Chatman was shot and killed at 19th and Yesler one year ago next week. Though he is not included in SPD’s list of unsolved murders, Shaun Harris was found beaten to death at 26th and Jefferson In September 2011. And the family and friends of Tyrone Love are still searching for closure in the 2009 shooting that took his life just a block from where Ferrari died.
Original Story:
About an hour after the raid. (Note: Not where the suspect arrest was made)
SWAT teams and Seattle Police raided a home on 31st Ave between Cherry and Jefferson today investigating a homicide.
The raid began around 11:30 a.m. at the mid-block house. Officers on the scene said they were executing a search warrant. Residents answered the door and officers secured the area without incident, officers said.
Detectives and Gang Unit officers were searching for weapons and other evidence. No arrests were made at the house.
We’ll have more information as we get it.
UPDATE
Photo of the raid from a reader (Note: This is the scene of a related search, not the arrest scene)
: Here’s a photo from a reader (right).
UPDATE 1:20pm: An ambulance has arrived at the scene, according to a reader.
I contacted SPD for more information, but they do not have anything yet.
UPDATE 2:14pm: Police confirm they have made an arrest in the killing of Justin Ferrari.
Neighbors of 23rd and Jackson packed the meeting room at Douglass-Truth Library Wednesday to open a renewed discussion about the future of the corner and its aging, never-fully-realized shopping center.
For the most part, the meeting—organized by the Colman Neighborhood Association and the new Jackson Commons group—centered around the points most neighbors can agree on. We love our locally-owned businesses and need to support them, we want more activity on Jackson Street, and we love the music they play at Red Apple. Chief among those points of agreement: No Wal-Mart, no way.
It’s not clear how the Wal-Mart rumors started. Weingarten, the Houston-based company that purchased Promenade 23 in 2011, says they have no plans to build a Wal-Mart on the property. Lance Sherwood, Weingarten’s Senior Development Manager for the Western Region, cancelled some other appointments to attend Wednesday’s meeting and briefed the crowd on the company’s history, which got its start as a grocery store. “Grocery anchor centers” are their typical developments, he said. He also reiterated that they have no plans yet.
“We want to engage with our community when we have a design,” he said. “When we have a design, you will be the first to know.”
But just the utterance of the W-word was enough to kick people into action. UFCW21, the union representing the workers at Red Apple, showed up with a strong anti-Wal-Mart message. Elene Perez, the union rep, laid out three points that she said the union and neighbors of the project should stand behind:
1: No Wal-Mart.
2: A diverse representation of community leaders in the CD should have an ongoing role in the development decisions.
3: Workers and small local businesses already working or operating at Promenade 23 need some guarantee that they will have an opportunity in the new development.
Jimmy Sumler’s Promenade 23 vision from 1970 that was never realized.
George Staggers of CADA added another point to the list: A long-term lease for the Red Apple.
Lenny Rose, owner of Red Apple, said they want to stay.
“I’ve been here all my life, and I consider it my neighborhood,” said Rose. “We are committed to being here.”
Carl de Simas of the Jackson Street Corridor Association presented about his organization’s work to create a Business Improvement Area on Jackson. Basically, the BIA would assess funds from property owners and put it into a pool that would be used to make investments in the corridor, like clean-ups, banners and community events.
One meeting attendee pointed out that the BIA funds in other neighborhoods have also been used to hire extra police, which would likely be controversial. The BIA members would decide what to do with the funding if it goes through, but there are still some significant hurdles. Currently, 40 percent of property owners in the area have signed onto the plan, but that is not enough to put the proposal in front of the City Council. Weingarten has not yet signed on, de Simas said.
The big question of the meeting was: What power do neighbors have to influence the future of Jackson?
Lyle Bicknell from DPD gave a presentation about the Design Review Board’s process. When a project is proposed, it will go to the Board for approval. While the Board’s purview is primarily architectural (they can’t do much about concerns of gentrification several meeting attendees voiced), he said the more unified the community can be in their desires, the more effective it will be in influencing the process.
“If the community can speak with, maybe not one voice, but with one direction, that can have a powerful impact,” he said. “This neighborhood has a leg up because you’re and you’re talking already.”
Obviously, the meeting did not solve the problem of gentrification.
“Sometimes, the things that make an area attractive and vibrant are the first things to get priced out,” said Bicknell. This concern was supported by several current business owners at Promenade 23 who feared they would not be able to afford a spot in a new development.
But unlike so many conversations about gentrification that happen in the neighborhood, the prospect of an out-of-state developer making decisions at the corner seemed to be a uniting force among neighbors. And Jackson Commons leader Knox Gardner insisted on focusing energy toward things we can do to have a positive and proactive community effect.
Wyking Garrett suggested that the annual Umojafest parade and festival in Judkins Park, of which he is a key organizer, is a great opportunity to support and celebrate community culture and engage more neighbors. This year’s festival is August 3-5 with the parade on the 4th.
Gardner said Jackson Commons has plans for some upcoming community events to support and highlight existing businesses. They are planning an upcoming dinner in the Promenade 23 parking lot featuring food by East Africa Imports, a Promenade 23 business. He said there will also be another “pop-up cafe” Thursday afternoon at an undisclosed location (to be announced on the Jackson Commons Facebook page).
One man talked about a trip he took to Montreal recently and how impressed he was with the success of activists there to leverage direct action, such as protests and occupations, to create community projects and get laws changed. He also suggested that community members could create some cooperative businesses to keep the wealth generated on the corner circulating as locally as possible.
“And, a little less radical, can we get a credit union there?” he asked, pointing out that there are only commercial banks in the close vicinity.
Leaving the meeting, people were tasked with talking to their neighbors (especially neighbors who don’t use the Internet) about Jackson and get them involved in the conversation. Anyone with project ideas are encouraged to email [email protected] or, of course, suggest it in the comments below (a great way to get connected with others interested in helping). Reach out to churches, groups and community events to keep the discussion going.
And, of course, head over to Jackson and support the businesses there.
Dear Central Area Neighbors,
Our home was burglarized! Our home is located between Union & Marion on 21st Avenue. Between 8 pm on Friday, July 13 and 10 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012, when unknown burglar(s) entered our home through an upstairs rear kitchen window. They used a chair to climb up to our deck, then used a blade to slice the window screen and crawl through. According to the SPD officer who took finger prints at the scene, some prints indicate the person(s) may have been a juvenile or a child, and therefore more than one person may have been involved. While they attempted to gain entry from a rear ground floor window, one of these robbers took a shit on the South side of the house, near this ground floor window. We wonder if this might be a part of their MO. Have you had a similar experience?
While we are still unsure what else might be missing, the following items are confirmed stolen: 2012 Acer laptop computer, 2006 Apple desktop OS X, 2 digital cameras Panasonic & Kodak (2011), Men’s platinum gold diamond Tiffany’s keychain, Wii game system with controllers & games, Burton snowboard backpack (multi-colored checker print), Knock-off Coach purse, orange waterproof messenger backpack, and all the liquor from our liquor cabinet. We think these robbers were young or alcoholics because they took cooking Sherry, Dry vermouth, port wine, and Creme de menthe–wow, really?! But they left our prescription drugs alone. Our daughter is especially upset as they rummaged her bedroom, stole her new laptop with all her school work on it since January, and took her special snowboard backpack given to her from a dear friend. The desktop is a big loss, as it has 5 years worth of pictures and videos on it, and not all were backed up. :( (I know, hard lesson to learn….)
So we are appealing to our neighbors and CD community. Have you seen a group of teens carrying backpacks and purses filled with electronics and liquor walking the neighborhood the past few days? Has someone you know recently appeared with any of these items in their possession, without adequate explanation? Did you hear or see anything suspicious on our block the past few days? Have you experienced a similar robbery in the past few weeks or months? Any information would be greatly appreciated, please send an email to [email protected].
Sincerely,
Rachelle, Scott & Bailey
In recent weeks, I have started hearing tips and rumors from worried readers like this:
One of the wonderful checkers at the Jackson Red Apple just informed me that her union rep called to let her know that the recent buyer of the store and lot is planning on firing all employees, closing the store, and moving in a WalMart. She mentioned that several individuals have visited the store over the past two days to take photos and collect comments. I haven’t seen this story on Central District News, but I am sure your readership would be very interested to hear of the plans to move a WalMart into this community.
So I got in touch with new Promenade 23 owners Weingarten Real Estate, based in Houston. They declined to discuss the status of the Red Apple lease, but said they are “looking at different types of options” for the property.
“We may either redevelop the property into something bigger and better or keep it the same,” said Lance Sherwood, Weingarten’s Senior Development Manager for the Western Region. “We don’t have any plans at this point in time … When we have something in mind for the property, we will absolutely talk with the different associations in a proactive sense.”
But Jackson Commons, led by Colman neighborhood resident Knox Gardner (you might know him by “Knox” on CDNews) does not want to wait that long to start reimagining what could be possible.
“The development will happen, so when it does, how do we make sure it’s coherent?” said Gardner. “How do we preserve some of its character and make it vibrant?”
The Colman Neighborhood Association and Jackson Commons are holding a meeting tonight (Wednesday) starting at 6 p.m. at Douglass-Truth Library to discuss Promenade 23 and “how to leverage this redevelopment to encourage more businesses and city investment in the Jackson Street Corridor.”
The Pop-up Cafe. Photo from Jackson Commons
You may have seen the work of Jackson Commons already. Saturday, they set up some tables, chairs and patio umbrellas outside Ocean Tea, Coffee House & Deli at 25th and Jackson. The so-called “pop-up cafe” drew a small crowd, trying to demonstrate the potential for more people-activated space on Jackson. And, Gardner said, he thinks more people should be going to Ocean, an independent coffee shop connected with the Indian Ocean Restaurant two doors down.
The Jackson Commons website has also been producing some concept drawings showing what could be possible at 23rd and Jackson. One shows a multi-story building with housing, retail and a farmer’s market. It also pictures a Jackson spur of the city’s Streetcar network. Another shows a Met Market.
Gardner said he is not against redevelopment. In fact, he is excited about it. But he is afraid of the kinds of big box projects that fill much of Weingarten’s online portfolio, and he wants Jackson Commons to be “a way to be positive about the redevelopment around Promenade 23.” Instead of fighting something bad in the future, he wants to get ahead of it and get people thinking about what neighbors want to see happen on Jackson.
Sherwood said Weingarten is excited about being involved at Promenade 23, and they have expressed interest in infill development and being involved with community organizations as the process moves forward. So Jackson Commons wants to start generating ideas and dreams for Weingarten, and other Jackson neighbors, to see.
Could 23rd and Jackson be the home of a farmer’s market? Drawing by Ben Kim for Jackson Commons