Three men were arrested in a nighttime raid of a house at 19th and Spruce December 23 after neighbors told police people were squatting in the under-renovation house.

Occupy Seattle got word of the eviction out, and several people showed up to protest.

The three people arrested were booked into King County jail on charges of criminal trespassing, property damage and weapons violations, police say.

@ThatGirlKatt was there and tweeted photos from the scene:

SPD says they first got reports of the occupants December 23, but a CDN community post from December 21 suggests several people (and a dog) have been living there since December 12.

According to King County records, Mountaincrest Credit Union purchased the house out of foreclosure August 28 the home is owned by William and Katherine Brown.

Here’s SPD’s take on the raid:

In the afternoon hours of December 23rd witnesses called 911 to report multiple male and female subjects who had unlawfully entered and occupied a residence under renovation in the 1900 block of East Spruce Street.  Nobody was currently living in the house and the witnesses knew that the subjects occupying the residence did not to live there.

Officers arrived on scene and broadcast over their public address system for the subjects inside the house to come out.  After the third public broadcast by officers was ignored, officers made entry into the residence and discovered two adult male suspects inside who had no legal right to be there.  Another male suspect was attempting to enter the house when contacted by officers.   

Preliminary investigation indicates that the suspects entered the house and subsequently damaged the interior of the house with graffiti.  They also left garbage, open containers of food, and were cooking inside the house on a portable, gas-operated stove. 

 Officers took all three adult male suspects into custody for charges including Criminal Trespassing, Property Damage and weapons violations.  Other criminal charges may be forthcoming. 

All three suspects will be booked into the King County Jail. 

This remains an active and on-going investigation.

The Occupy Seattle Twitter account questioned the police action shortly after the raid ended:

Squatting has become more and more common (or more conspicuous) as part of the Occupy movement. An unfinished duplex at 23rd and Alder has been occupied by a collective of people since mid November. That group of unnamed defendants have been summoned to court for eviction. The court date has been set for December 28.

We know it’s not exactly full of holiday cheer, but here’s a roundup of some recent crime reports around the neighborhood.

Man tells police he was robbed at 18th and Fir

A man told police he was robbed in the 1800 block of E Fir Thursday night by a group of four who came up from behind and attacked. Details of the report have not been confirmed with SPD.

According to dispatch radio, police fanned around the area but did not have a good description of the assailants as the man said he didn’t get a good look at the group before they jumped him. The man complained of injuries to both eyes. Seattle Fire responded to the scene with a medic unit.

We have not heard any reports of suspects associated with the incident being taken into custody. We will update when we learn more.

Alleged Madison Safeway shoplifter pepper sprays security guard.

Capitol Hill Seattle reports that a security guard at the Madison Safeway was pepper sprayed by an apparent shoplifter:

SPD responded to the 23rd and Madison Safeway last Sunday night after a security guard was pepper sprayed by a shoplifting suspect known to police and witnesses as a serial thief who was attempting to flee with a ripped-off box of laundry detergent.

According to a witness, the transgender suspect is a regular at the grocery store that serves southeast Capitol Hill and the Central District. Police were able to track down the suspect at a nearby apartment where they attempted contact but were yelled at and had a door slammed on them by the suspect and the alleged thief’s mother.

According to the report on the late night incident, the security guard was hit in the face with the spray in a scramble that followed his attempt to stop the suspect from leaving the store with the $14.99 box of detergent.

The report says officers decided not to attempt further contact with the suspect and mother that night and forwarded the case to the robbery unit for follow-up.

The security guard went to the hospital “due to the effects of the pepper spray,” according to the SPD report.

Man slashed in face with knife at 14th and Yesler

From SPD:

On December 21st at approximately 10:10 p.m. a 52-year-old male victim was gathering his property behind an abandoned apartment complex in the 100 block of 14th Avenue when two unknown male suspects attacked him.  Preliminary investigation indicates that the assault was unprovoked and no hostile words were exchanged prior to the assault.  During the assault, one of the suspects cut the victim across his face with a sharp object.  The suspects then fled the scene and remain at large.

SFD medics were called to the scene to treat the victim’s non-life-threatening injury. 

The suspects are described as follows:

Suspect #1: black male, 6’4” tall with a scar across his chin, last seen wearing a black sweatshirt with a yellow stripe.

Suspect# 2: black male, 5’8” to 5’10” tall, last seen wearing a red sweat suit.

Anyone with information about this incident or who may know the identities or whereabouts of either of the suspects is asked to call 911 or Seattle Police and refer to this incident.

Woman robbed waiting for bus at 27th and Yesler

A woman waiting for a bus at 27th and Yesler around 9:15 p.m. December 13. According to the police report, she was checking her phone to see when the bus would arrive when she was attacked:

Attempted robbery at MLK and Pike

A man was pushed to the ground and threatened by two people who tried to steal his bag around 5:45 p.m. December 16 near MLK and Pike. From the police report:

Tires slashed on Spring

We received reports that car tires were slashed on almost every vehicle parked on Spring between 24th and 25th December 20.

In the battle for valuable urban space, the tree often defeats the sidewalk. That’s what happened on 34th Ave in Madrona, where SDOT recently cut down a block or so of red sunset maples.

The trees were chopped down in order to repave the sidewalk, which had been demolished by tree roots. With the new ADA-compliant sidewalk in place, SDOT says they have planted two trees for each one cut down, and the new trees have enough space from the sidewalk to thrive.

The project, however, has stirred some controversy as the large trees were cut down. A young tree is not the same as an old tree, and the tree canopy along the street will not return for many years. SDOT says the sidewalk was irreparable because the trees were planted in too small of a space.

Here are a couple before-and-after shots from SDOT:

Before

After

From SDOT:

This fall SDOT replaced the uplifted, crumbling sidewalks along most of the 900 block of 34th Ave with new, flat, smooth sidewalks.  The project is on 34th Ave, south of E Spring St, across the street from Playground, and just south of the business district.  You may know it simply as ”the block diagonally across from Cupcake .”

About 35 years ago nearly 100 Red Sunset Maples were planted along 34th Ave between E Pike and E Cherry.  These trees are now too large for their narrow planting space next to the sidewalk, so their roots often lift up and damage the sidewalk.  SDOT has done many spot repairs, or “shims” to the sidewalks but some sidewalks are beyond the point where we can continue such fixes while preserving the trees in such a narrow growing space.

The result was a damaged sidewalk that limited access for many members of the community–people using strollers, people using wheelchairs and more.  This is an important walking corridor because it’s along a bus route, it leads to the neighborhood business district and connects to schools, the library and parks.

SDOT staff from sidewalk repair and urban forestry determined that the best plan for the long run was to rebuild the sidewalk and remove nine trees on this block (and replace them with 18 new trees nearby) so that the trees do not damage our investment in the new sidewalk.   We would prefer to never remove trees, but in some cases there is just not enough room in the right-of-way for the sidewalk and the tree to co-exist.  It’s kind of like where it would be nice to install a bike lane, but the street is only wide enough to accommodate a sharrow.  When SDOT removes a tree, we replace it with two trees, and plant them as close to the removed tree as possible.  In the long run, we have a repaired sidewalk that will last a very long time, and we have trees planted in the right place with enough space for them to thrive.

The people occupying the unfinished duplex at 23rd and Alder will have their day in court December 28. Attorneys for the property owner have filed for an eviction court order to remove the members of the Turritopsis Nutricula collective, who have been living in the building for over a month.

According to an email from the Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) to people who had filed complaints, the building owner’s representatives “had sought to have the occupants removed as trespassers but the Seattle Police Department took the position that a court order would be required to remove the occupants.” DPD then gave both the occupiers and the building owners an “Emergency Order to Vacate” due to unapproved electrical work and the lack of water service. They set the deadline for vacating as December 16 at 5 p.m., but the occupiers defied the order. That order does not authorize physically removing the occupants.

From DPD:

As you know, the house at 23rd and Alder is still very much occupied.  I wanted to give you a couple of updates on what has been happening behind the scenes. 

The owner’s representatives attempted to negotiate with the unauthorized occupants for their departure.  When this was unsuccessful and the occupants did not leave by the deadline discussed, the owner’s representatives filed an action to obtain a court order for eviction.  (The owner’s representatives earlier had sought to have the occupants removed as trespassers but the Seattle Police Department took the position that a court order would be required to remove the occupants.)  The hearing on this order is December 28th at 9 a.m. in King County Courtroom W-325, 516 Third Avenue, Seattle.  I’ve attached a copy of the show cause order which contains more information.

Meanwhile, last week DPD issued an Emergency Order to Vacate the building, the emergency conditions being the unapproved electrical work and the lack of water service.  The order was issued to both the owner and the occupants.  The occupants did not honor the deadline in this order (Friday 12/16 at 5 p.m.).  Noncompliance with the order does not authorize physical removal of the occupants, though it does give the property owner added incentive to resolve the issues at the property to avoid potential fines, and it puts the occupants on notice that the building they are in is not approved for residential use.

At this point it appears the owner is doing everything possible to resolve this situation.  The court date is a week from tomorrow (the earliest date they were able to get) and if the requested relief is granted, that will include authorization for law enforcement to take action to remove the occupants of the building.

In order to reoccupy the building as a residence or residences, the owner would have to demonstrate that the building is up to code standards.

This has been a long and frustrating haul but we are hopeful that the end is in sight.  We appreciate your patience as well as the additional information some of you have provided.  Please feel free to contact me, Housing Zoning Inspector Kevin Hou (615-1613), or Inspector Supervisor Clay Thompson (684-7794) if you have questions or concerns.  Of course, if you observe any criminal behavior at the site, you should call 9-1-1. 

Sincerely,

Diane C. Davis

Code Compliance Manager

The occupiers, many of whom are associated with Occupy Seattle, say they are there to live, be part of the community and protest vacant housing. Their official media statement is:

There are homeless people. There are empty houses. That makes no sense.

Since moving in November 19, residents have painted the unfinished exterior of the house black, green and red, and an anarchist flag hangs in front.

Renovations on the building began in 2008, but stopped abruptly amid the financial crisis. It had been uninhabited until the collective moved in. Court documents officially recognize the owner as 307309 23RD LLC, though a man named Denmark West has also been identified as the building owner. Attempts by CDN to contact Mr. West and his representatives have so far been unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, a post on the Puget Sound Anarchist website by “one irregular resident” of the collective gives a take on the occupation and others elsewhere in the region, from Bellevue to White Center. The anonymous poster also discusses recent graffiti in the neighborhood, including the “Gentrification Kills” tag on the fence of “an ugly cubist-fascist-brutalist style house” at 19th and Jefferson.

Here’s the court document summoning the “John Doe and Jane Doe Occupants” of the house:

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Please join us for an All-School (Preschool through 5th grade) on Saturday, January 7th from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. You will have an opportunity to meet the staff, tour classrooms, meet some current parents and learn about Giddens School!  We hope to see you there!

The Parks Department will tear down a fence separating the Madison Park North Beach from Lake Washington after 67 years and several years of community debates. The fence could come down early next year.

Some residents argued against taking down the fence because they feared it is unsafe. Parks staff says the city has many miles of shoreline and thinks it can manage this section safely.

Others argued that traffic and parking would be worse if the beach were to fill with people on nice days the way Madison Park Beach does just a block south. At a public hearing November 3, some even said they wanted to protect the “exclusive” nature of the neighborhood. Others argued that the city needs (and is required by law) to open as much public shoreline as it can.

From Seattle Parks:

Acting Seattle Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams has approved the phased removal of the shoreline fence at Madison Park’s north shoreline, located at the intersection of East Lynn Street and 43rd Avenue East.  

Williams’ decision follows a recommendation from the Board of Park Commissioners at its Thursday, December 8, 2011 meeting to remove the fencing.

 

“Seattle Parks and Recreation owns and manages more than 20 miles of shoreline along Lake Washington and Puget Sound, and associated tributaries,” said Williams. “All of it is accessible to the public. Madison Park North Beach is the only stretch of shoreline where the public is precluded from accessing the shoreline by a chain link fence. We have heard Madison Park neighbors express their concerns about the fence removal, and will work them on an implementation plan before the fence is removed.”

 

Parks will convene a community work group comprised of neighbors and key stakeholders to devise an implementation plan for removing the fence. The timeline for removal of the fence is early 2012.

 

Background

 

The park was developed in 1945 with a small play area, now just a swing set. The rip rap wall and fence along the shoreline were installed during the original park creation. Seattle Parks has considered removing the fence several times in the past, most recently in 2003. Earlier this year, Parks received a request from a Seattle resident to remove the fence at North Beach and open up the access, both visual and physical, to Lake Washington.

 

The request is consistent with the objectives of the City’s Shoreline Master Program (SMP). As stated in Seattle Municipal Code § 23.60.002B, “[i]t is the purpose of this chapter to implement the policy and provisions of the Shoreline Management Act and the Shoreline Goals and Policies of the Seattle Comprehensive Plan by regulating development of the shorelines of the City in order to:

1.            Protect the ecosystems of the shoreline areas;

2.            Encourage water-dependent uses;

3.            Provide for maximum public use and enjoyment of the shorelines of the City; and

4.            Preserve, enhance and increase views of the water and access to the water.

 

Removing the fence at North Beach will expand the opportunities available to the surrounding neighborhood to access the Lake Washington shoreline consistent with State and local policies.

Sustainable Seattle has recognized the Green Plate Special garden at MLK and Union as an “innovator in sustainability” in the built environment.

The garden is an urban farm planted in a privately-owned vacant lot that provides youth with hands-on education about how to grow and prepare healthy food. The award comes less than a year after the group began to transform the corner.

From Sustainable Seattle:

Laura Dewell is leading up a very innovative project with her partner, Libby.  They are working with youth (many minority), teaching them cooking and gardening, both of which have so many psychological, community, health benefits.   They are developing their site in an environmentally conscious way by minimizing building foot print and putting in a rain garden.    These activities also have time balance, education, and material well being benefits, especially if home cooking and gardening become a habit for these kids as they grow older.

Youth media organization Reel Grrls has hired a new executive director to replace founder Malory Graham, who has lead the organization for a decade. New Director Robin Held comes from the Frye Art Museum, where she was a curator.

The past year has been far from usual for Reel Grrls, based at 21st and Union next to Central Cinema. Comcast threatened to pull their funding after the organization sent out a critical tweet. After getting national support, Reel Grrls told Comcast to keep their money and raised even more through private donations.

When the organization started the search, they said they were looking for someone with the following qualifications:

Our ideal candidate can: make a film, hire a new staff person, ask a donor for 10K, take out the trash, give a speech, help a teenage girl write a script, negotiate a lease, quote Maya Angelou, write a grant and bake a killer batch of chocolate chip cookies—all in the same week.

More on the new hire, from Reel Grrls:

Reel Grrls today announced the appointment of Robin Held as the new Executive Director. Held is currently the Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Collections, of the Frye Art Museum in Seattle. She will assume her post at Reel Grrls on March 1, 2012, succeeding Malory Graham, Reel Grrls’ founder, who is stepping down, after overseeing the growth of Reel Grrls during its first decade, in order to pursue her own work as a filmmaker and artist. 

 “We did a national search and were thrilled to find the new leader we were looking for right here in Seattle,” said Lucia Ramirez Levias, President of the Board of Directors of Reel Grrls. “Robin has been a key player on the transformation team at the Frye. As Reel Grrls just celebrated its tenth anniversary, she’s the right woman to build upon our success and extend the influence of the program through partnerships with cultural organizations and educational institutions in Seattle and beyond. Robin is unstoppable. She’s going to do a sensational job of inspiring more and more girls to make their voices heard.”

First as a member of the curatorial team at the Henry Art Museum, the University of Washington’s premier museum of modern and contemporary art, and since 2004, at the Frye Art Museum, Held has earned a reputation as one of Seattle’s most innovative curators of contemporary art.

In other Central District executive director news, CD Forum has launched their search for a director to replace Kumani Gantt.

Police kicked out five people squatting in a boarded-up house near 12th and Jefferson December 14. The people squatting in the house identified themselves as part of Occupy Seattle until their camp at Seattle Central Community College was closed this week.

The occupants left the house voluntarily, police said.

Here’s SPD’s take on the eviction:

On December 14th at approximately 1:00 p.m. a property owner observed at least one subject entering a vacant and boarded up house in the 1200 block of East Jefferson Street.  The witness knew that the residence was unoccupied and no one should be inside.  He subsequently called 911.

Upon arrival officers noted that the rear door handle of the house was unlocked and easily turned.  While waiting for additional units to arrive officers discovered that the rear door had been locked.  An officer relocated to the front of the house just as the occupants began to exit.  Five subjects (three males and two females) voluntarily exited the house with their hands raised. 

The lead subject was holding a shiny brass key in his right hand and kept repeating, “we have the key”.  All five subjects immediately identified themselves with the “Occupy Seattle” movement.

Inside the house an officer located a brand new (still in the box) door lock/deadbolt assembly, which was submitted to evidence.  When the officer I exited the house, one of the male subjects said, “Oh, hey, you found our lock set”.  The subjects admitted to officers that they were intending to change the locks at this residence.

Because officers were unable to establish contact with the legal property owner, SFD responded and secured the premise. 

Officers identified and released all five subjects with a request for charges by the city attorney’s office for trespassing.

Meanwhile, the group at Turritopsis Nutricula are still living in the unfinished duplex at 23rd and Alder, nearly one month after taking the space over. While police and the Department of Planning and Development have signaled their intent to evict the occupiers there, Publicola reports that the property owner (Denmark West) has some concerns about liability should there be a police raid.

Other vacant houses could see groups of squatters moving in. An article in anarchist newspaper Tides of Flame (posted on the Puget Sound Anarchists website) has some helpful tips for those looking to occupy a vacant home.

Carla Saulter (AKA Bus Chick, also with Transportation Choices Coalition, though she is doing this as a private citizen) has started an online petition arguing against proposed cuts to off-peak service on Metro’s Route 27 between downtown and Colman Park.

The planned 2012 revision would change the route so that it only runs between downtown and 12th Ave except during peak hours. The route runs most of the length of Yesler Way, and proposed cuts to both the 4 and 27 could mean no off-peak bus service from downtown to commercial destinations along much of Yesler as well as public destinations, such as Douglass-Truth Library and Leschi and Colman Parks.

Here’s a map of the proposed change from King County Metro:

The petition says that the route should at least go as far as Leschi Elementary (Yesler and 31st) for all-day service. Ridership pattern analysis by Bruce Nourish at Seattle Transit Blog shows that, while the 27 is very peak-oriented, ridership is fairly strong to about 23rd Ave. Nourish also notes that the bus does run parallel to the stronger Route 14 just a few blocks south on Jackson.

Here’s the text of the petition:

King County Metro’s September, 2012 service changes include several major changes to bus service in Seattle’s Central District. (For more information and to provide feedback, visit this page on Metro’s site: http://metro.kingcounty.gov/have-a-say/get-in-the-know/projects/route-information.html.)

Metro proposes to eliminate 27 service to Leschi during off-peak hours, terminating the route at 12th Ave. The rationale is that “service to Leschi Park and Colman Park do not meet Metro’s guidelines for continued service,” but this does not explain why the route is being terminated at 12th instead of at 23rd or Martin Luther King, which are common destinations for 27 riders at all hours. If route 4 is eliminated as proposed, there will no longer be a direct link from downtown to Douglass-Truth Library, and there will be no public bus service to Leschi Elementary. (Some other public resources that will be harder to reach by bus: Odessa Brown and Carolyn Downs medical clinics, Catholic Community Services, and Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Center.)

In addition, if the proposed changes take effect, there will be no transit access to the Colman Park area of Lake Washington, another significant public resource, for anyone who does not drive an autombile.

We, the undersigned, do not support King County Metro’s proposed changes to the route 27. All-day and weekend service must be retained at least as far east as Leschi Elementary.