ITO World has created a map marking the spot of every road fatality in the country between 2001 and 2009 (h/t Seattle Transit Blog).

Zooming down to the CD, 23rd Ave stands out as the most dangerous non-freeway in the neighborhood, especially between Yesler and I-90. Four people died on this stretch in eight years, including one person on a motorcycle, one in a car and two on foot.

MLK also saw three deaths, all of them in motor vehicles. As reported in our sister site Capitol Hill Seattle, Madison, especially as it heads up to First Hill just north of Seattle U campus, also saw several deaths in the eight years included in the map: two people in cars, one person on a motorcycle and one person walking.

The victims are marked by whether they were in a car, on a motorcycle, on a bike or walking. Each victim square also notes the victim’s age, gender and year of death.

As with our analysis of people who died in recent years while walking, the CD seems to have a disproportionate number of traffic deaths. Capitol Hill, which has more population density, saw fewer deaths than the CD. While traffic fatalities do not tell the whole story of road safety (as many as ten times the number who die get seriously injured), the difference is stark.

And the likelihood that someone is killed it is not entirely about how busy a street is. According to city data, Broadway carries about 23,000 vehicles per day and had one death (where it meets Madison), while the most dangerous stretch of 23rd Ave carries only about 13,500 vehicles per day and saw four deaths. As we have argued in the past, 23rd is in desperate need of a redesign. The current four-lane highway design encourages speeding and makes it difficult and dangerous to cross the street on foot, and the traffic volumes are not enough to need so many lanes. The current design is unnecessarily dangerous for people no matter how they get around.

The city recently wrapped up a series of Road Safety Summit forums and is currently working to put the information gathered together and come up with some next steps. The final meeting will be 6 p.m December 12 at City Hall.

Here’s the interactive map from ITO. If you notice anything interesting, point it out in the comments below.

Gentrification. Foreclosure. Crime. Education. History. Justice.

Conversation in the Central District often revolves around race, but it’s clear that not everyone is on the same page about what role race plays in issues facing the neighborhood today. The Seattle Race Initiative is an attempt to give people a comfortable space to talk about race and listen to others.

The discussions are Friday, December 9 from 6-9 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. You do not need to attend both (though you can). The discussions are free and funded by a Neighborhood Matching Fund grant.

From the Seattle Race Initiative:

The Seattle Race Initiative will be held at Mount Zion Baptist Church on Friday, December 9, 2011 (6-9 pm) and Saturday, December 10, 2011 (8:30 am – 4pm). The Initiative is designed to help participants have everyday and nonthreatening discussions about race. To assist in this process, the meeting will be led by Master Facilitator, Dr. David Campt, known as the Race Doctor (www.davidcampt.com).

Friday evening will look at race through the lens of the arts, addressing the ways that artists explore race through literature, dance, music, the spoken word and the visual arts. There will be a discussion about how participants perceived the art and the artists facilitated by the use of audience response technology; this will be followed by a Q and A with the artists.  Saturday places participants in groups based on work and/or interest identities. This is believed to be a way to help groups start talking with something important in common, as they will have members of different ages, life stages, races and ethnicities, neighborhoods and experiences with race and racism.  Because race is a taboo topic in America, this meeting is designed to make the topic interesting, intriguing, comfortable and fun.

While one weekend cannot change how Seattleites speak to each other, taking conversations about race out of the realm of blame is a great start.

Jerry Large at The Seattle Times spoke to organizer Lora-Ellen McKinney about what she hopes the conversation will accomplish:

“One of the things I know about Seattle is that Seattle is committed to compassion,” she said, “but we know compassion can be hard to learn.”

She wanted to do something that didn’t generate argument, that wasn’t a lecture, something that gave people a safe way to talk.

McKinney said most people think about race through their own experiences, so she wanted to allow people to talk about their different experiences.

“When I think about this a little bit, I think of the trite metaphor, that we are all on racial journeys and we have suitcases packed with baggage. … I’m trying to make it a 21st-century suitcase,” with lighter contents, she said.

The Promenade Red Apple at 23rd and Jackson is getting a small healthy foods makeover, thanks to a partnership with the University of Washington School of Nursing. Starting Tuesday, some products will be shifted around and new signs will be installed encouraging young people to make healthy choices when buying food.

From Moving Together in Faith and Health:

Red Apple Market Promenade at 23rd & Jackson is joining forces with the University of Washington School of Nursing and six Seattle churches to promote healthier eating to children and youth. Store management has been working with the school’s groundbreaking project, Moving Together in Faith and Health (MTFH). On Tuesday, December 6, 2011, Red Apple will allow MTFH to make small changes which are intended to yield big results. 

The changes include strategic placement of healthy, whole produce among the array of sweets and fried foods.  Bottled water will also be moved to more highly visible positions among the many sugar-laden beverages offered in the deli section. Where a teen may have been instantly drawn to a doughnut, brownie or bag of chips, he will find apples, bananas, pears and more.  At the same time these changes are taking place, Red Apple management is allowing for healthy fruit and vegetable floor decals to be installed. Those fun, child-friendly, active images accompanied by cartoon footprints will lead children and families to the produce department where they may pick out fruits and vegetables that they otherwise would not have chosen. The decals were designed by University of Washington Nursing Students, and printing paid for by the “Healthy Foods Here” initiative, which is part of the nationwide Communities Putting Prevention to Work program, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

 

In yet another effort to put a healthier face on Red Apple, store management has invited UW School of Nursing to have a healthy table display of information and eye-catching edible goodies at their holiday vendor showcase on Wednesday, December 7, 2011. Most of the other vendor tables will offer samples of traditional holiday foods like prime rib and desserts, but Dr. Doris Boutain of the UW School of Nursing says offering Red Apple shoppers ideas for healthy alternatives is a strategy that gets them and their children thinking.  “We were invited to have a table at last year’s event and parents and children were crowded at our table tasting the fresh fruit kabobs that were simply prepared with fresh fruit and natural yogurt dip. It is all about planting the seed.”  Boutain added that before the showcase last year, one child had never tasted a grape. “The child enjoyed that grape so much, that she just stood there and asked for more. We are thrilled that Red Apple sees the importance of promoting healthy eating and curbing the trend of childhood obesity and chronic diseases like diabetes.”

 

As part of the grant, Moving Together in Faith and Health,  Dr. Boutain has been charged with helping six churches develop healthy eating and active living policies in their churches. Those policies are now complete and approved by the churches, a feat some said was impossible. She also has the responsibility of facilitating relationships with community partners like Red Apple and Central Co-Op, resulting in changes in their stores that support the churches’ health policies and the vision for a healthier community.

 

About Moving Together in Faith and Health

Moving Together in Faith and Health is a University of Washington School of Nursing Project. By developing and implementing policies, six churches in Central and Southeast Seattle are expanding their historical faith and health legacies. The churches involved are Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, New Direction Missionary Baptist Church, Mount Zion Baptist Church, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Goodwill Missionary Baptist Church and First A.M.E. church.  They are becoming national institutional models for healthy eating and active living environments for children, youth, adults and families. Ultimately, churches will move together to transform neighborhood environments into places where faith and health opportunities, nutritious foods, and physical activity are affordable and accessible to everyone.   These activities by local cities and King County are supported by Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW), a federally-funded grant to address obesity and tobacco use, two of the leading causes of death in King County.

In other Red Apple news, the store is hosting a holiday open house Wednesday, including photos with Santa. More info via Facebook.

After Garfield High School students lead a successful walkout that grabbed national headlines (from the Huffington Post to Keith Olbermann to the New York Times), several of the organizers have now formed a group they are calling Students of Washington for Change (SWaC).

Now formalized, the group is looking to expand to schools all around the state. From SWaC’s post-march letter:

In response to this outpouring of support for what may be one of the most pressing issues of our time, the organizers of this march are creating a new student advocacy and protest movement known as Students of Washington for Change, or SWaC. We are not affiliated with the occupy movement, we are only students looking out for other students.

For the present, we will continue our focus on preventing cuts to educational programs across the state. We will ensure that a quality education is guaranteed to every student in Washington State. We also hope that this organization will expand beyond Garfield and the Seattle Public Schools. We want this to be a state wide student movement.

The group says they have plans to reorganize as more school join. To keep up to date on the group (or to make sure you know when you will need to write your teen an excuse note), follow SWaC on Facebook and Twitter.

23rd and Jackson, 3:45 p.m. November 29

Another smart phone was stolen on a Metro bus November 29 (see the Jackson and Rainier report here, from November 13). The report does not indicate a connection between the two incidents.

It’s also worth noting that police have been utilizing the Find My iPhone and Where’s My Droid apps to help track the phones. So if you have a smart phone, it might be worth installing them.

From the police report:

Garfield shuts down bathrooms due to robbery rumors

Jonah at Publicola reports that some bathrooms at Garfield High School were closed last month in response to student rumors and concerns about robberies. School officials said the rumors stopped once they took action, and that they never identified any suspects or victims.

From Publicola:

Garfield High School closed its second and third floor bathrooms to students last month after rumors circulated throughout the school that students were being robbed in the restroom.

The rumors became pervasive enough that school officials took action, closing four of the school’s nine bathrooms (all boys’ restrooms) for three days in early October, according to Seattle school district spokesman Teresa Wippel.

The school’s principal went as far as notifying the school’s parent/teacher association about the rumors, but because Garfield staff were unable to identify any suspects, or find any victims, they did not report the rumors to police.

Hey CDN, don’t know if is just me but your home page is downloading with no content,  other pages are working.

Turritopsis Nutricula may soon need to revert to its polyp state as the city signals its intent to evict them.

A group loosely-aligned with Occupy Seattle has been squatting in an unfinished duplex at 23rd and Alder protesting homelessness and vacant housing. The collective of residents named the house Turritopsis Nutricula (see Wikipedia), and planned to stay there indefinitely. They have since painted the house red, black and green and have been working on fixing up the unfinished interior, residents said.

Seattle Police spokesperson Sean Whitcomb tells CDNews that they are working with other city departments to respond to the occupiers at the house.

However, the legal property owner has been difficult to get in touch with, and the Thanksgiving holiday slowed that process even further.

But now, the Department of Planning and Development says they are in touch with an attorney representing the legal owner, and the city is now working to remove the current residents.

DPD sent the following message around noon to people who filed complaints about the house:

Thank you for your complaint concerning the vacant property at 307-09 23rd Avenue that is being occupied by unauthorized persons.  We have received a number of other complaints about this property.  We conducted property research and identified representatives of the owner last week, but were unable to reach anyone with authority to take action until early this week due to the intervening Thanksgiving holiday.  Now we have been in contact with the attorney representing the owner, who is working with the Seattle Police Department with the goal of having the unauthorized occupants of the building removed.  We will continue to closely monitor the situation at the house and will proceed with enforcement action depending upon the outcome of the efforts to remove the occupants.

Thank you again for informing us about the concerns with this property.  Please feel free to contact me or Housing Zoning Inspector Supervisor Clay Thompson (684-7794) if you have questions.

Sincerely,

 

Diane C. Davis

Code Compliance Manager

No word yet on a timeline for city action. We will update as we learn more.

Prosecutors have charged four-time felon Wayne Richard Dubois, 20, in connection with a November 6 shooting at MLK and Dearborn in which a man was shot in the groin (see our previous story).

According to court documents, Dubois and the victim got into an argument in front of Parnell’s Market at 23rd and Dearborn. Dubois accused the victim of of taking some of his property, and victim walked away headed west on Dearborn toward MLK.

Dubois and a woman drove their green Ford Crown Victoria down Dearborn where Dubois allegedly got out of the car near MLK wielding a handgun. He yelled, “Break yourself!” before firing the gun at the victim, striking him once in the groin, according to prosecutors.

The victim ran to a friend’s house nearby, and his friend drove him to the hospital.

After police arrested Dubois, who has four felony convictions, he admitted to being in the area at the time with his girlfriend in a green Ford Victoria, but he denied shooting the victim.

He has been charged with one count of first degree assault and one count of second degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He has previously been found guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm. Prosecutors laid out Dubois’ criminal history and alleged gang ties in defense of their request for $1 million bail:

The defendant has prior convictions for Assault in the Third Degree (2007), Unlawful Possession of a Firearm in the Second Degree (2008), and Violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act (2011 and 2011). In addition to the defendant’s troubling criminal history involving assault and firearms, he was on active supervision for the Department of Corrections at the time of this event. Further, the underlying facts in the present case demonstrate a marked lack of concern both for the safety of the community and for the victim. The shooting that is alleged in this case took place in the middle of the day, on a busy street, and included the defendant firing a handgun four separate times, including one bullet which struck the victim in the groin. The defendant has strong ties to gang activities in King County according to three separate police agencies and is specifically alleged to be a member of the Eastside Bounty Hunters Watts Blood gang from Los Angeles. The Bounty Hunters are associates of the West Side Street Mob in Seattle.

The people squatting in an unfinished duplex at 23rd and Alder have a simple media statement, scrawled in pink highlighter at the bottom of a piece of notebook paper hanging on one of the few finished walls on the first floor:

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

And so the occupation continues, and the residents of 307 23rd Ave plan to stay indefinitely, working to fix the place up as a “Revolutionary household” run as a collective.

I stopped by and spoke with some of the collective members, who say they have not heard from the city, the police or the legal owners. When they first arrived at the house, occupiers expected confrontation. But that never happened, so they are there to stay as long as it lasts, they said.

Turritopsis Nutricula members cheer on Garfield students. Photo by jseattle

Attempts by CDN to contact the apparent property owner have so far been unsuccessful. County records list a Mr. Denmark West as the owner. Records also show that renovations to add a second story were started and promptly halted in 2008, when the building lost significant value during the housing crisis. It does not appear much if anything has been done to the building since.

From a posting to the Puget Sound Anarchists website:

We expected to meet resistance from the state, immediately, but the cops stayed at their cars and, before too long, left without saying anything to any of us. We expected them to come back. They didn’t. We expected pepper spray and hand cuffs and battering rams. It hasn’t come. That doesn’t mean it won’t. But we’re prepared. We’ve put a lot of work into our new home and we intend to keep it.

Since taking over the space November 19, the house occupiers have painted the outside of the building red, black and green. A banner hanging on the outside reads “Occupy Everything. No banks. No Landlords.” Anarchist symbols and flags are featured prominently.

The place also has a new name: Turritopsis Nutricula (see Wikipedia). That’s the name of a jellyfish that could, at least in theory, be an immortal being. The collective see this as something of a metaphor for the house. From the PSA post:

To perpetuate its life indefinitely, the turritopsis nutricula continually reverses its aging process once it matures and begins maturing again from the polyp state. To do this, the turritopsis nutricula transdifferentiates, meaning each of it’s cells are transformed into a new type of cell.. In essence, it becomes a whole new jellyfish each time. We taught that jellyfish everything it knows. Since taking this house, we’ve become a whole new jellyfish.

Of course, the takeover of the house has not been welcomed by everyone. Ted Howard, the principal of Garfield High School, sent an email alert to the school community warning of the group’s presence in such close proximity to the school:

Garfield Families – Garfield high school wanted to make you aware of a nationwide group – Occupy Seattle that is currently residing close to the school campus. They are living in an abandoned building that is on 23rd Avenue. The building is in the 300 block just south of 313 23rd Avenue. Occupy Seattle recently tried to hand out pamphlets and recruit members on the high school campus. Security and police asked the group to leave. Garfield high school is working with the Seattle Police Department to make sure that the group is not allowed to come on campus and promote their ideas. We wanted families to be aware of the group’s presence close to the school campus. Sincerely, Ted Howard – Principal at Garfield High School

A little over a week after this email went out, hundreds of Garfield students walked out of classes and marched to City Hall to hold a rally protesting budget cuts that hurt education. The march was entirely organized and led by Garfield students. But when the march began, members of Turritopsis Nutricula were outside the building cheering the students on.

There was also a lengthy debate about the philosophy and methods of the occupiers in the comments of our original post. Now past 250 comments, the story is by far the most-commented story in CDN history (the first couple days saw pretty engaged and interesting conversation, in this editor’s opinion). Community members expressed opinions all across the board. Some support the house, others support the ideas, but not the squatting. Others disagree entirely and urged neighbors to file complaints with the city through the Seattle Police Department and the Department of Planning and Development.

Originally claimed as an Occupy Seattle action (and promoted by the Occupy Seattle website), the house is now trying to distance itself a bit from the encampment at Seattle Central Community College. The PSA post says that while they are acting in solidarity with Occupy Seattle and the occupy movement in general, taking over the house was not an action sanctioned by the Occupy Seattle General Assembly. The house members also highlight that there are some disagreements between Turritopsis Nutricula and Occupy Seattle, and the house remains an autonomous space.

The Associated Press reports that squatting in vacant properties has become a tactic used by people aligned (at least to some extent) with the Occupy movements in Seattle, Portland and Oakland. However, things are going more smoothly for the Seattle squatters than in Portland, where several people were arrested while occupying a vacant home there.

For more from inside the house, Forrest from Hollow Earth Radio did some interviews with residents shortly after they took over the space. You can listen to a podcast of those interviews, posted to the Hollow Earth website.

Collective rules and Points of Unity:

Garfield High School US History teacher Jesse Hagopian went on Keith Olbermann’s Current TV show to talk about Wednesday’s student walkout.

“It was one of the most amazing things and probably, I should say, my proudest day ever to see students who are inspired by the action that teachers took,” said Hagopian on the show. “And they took it upon themselves to organize. They created a flier, a leaflet and made bullet points about how the budget crunch has affected them.

“I think what you saw at Garfield High School today with students walking out is part of a worldwide protest.”

Watch here:

Hundreds of students left the school around 12:30 p.m. and marched downtown to City Hall, where they met with the mayor and held a rally. Students carried signs reading “Fund Our Future,” and participants distributed leaflets among themselves to help keep the protest on message.

For more on the protest, see our coverage and coverage at our sister site Capitol Hill Seattle.