Three Dollar Bill Cinema and Reel Grrls are teaming up to present a week-long media camp July 18-22 for queer youth. Reel Queer Youth aims to provide a safe space for queer youth and allies ages 13-20 to learn about media literacy and create their own short film.

More info, from Reel Grrls:

Monday – Friday, July 18 – 22, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: Reel Grrls New Media Lab in Seattle’s Central District, 1409 21st Ave, Seattle WA 98122
Ages: 13 – 20
Cost: $295 or pay what you can
Registration: Apply online!

A video production and media literacy training for LGBTQ youth and their allies ages 13-20. Use professional camera and editing equipment to express yourself in a safe, open and fun environment with a team of professional filmmakers and mentors. Working in small groups, you will complete a short film. All genders welcome.

For more info: [email protected], (360)202-0499

Here’s a promo video for the program:

The summer programs at Reel Grrls got a renewed focus on media justice this year after the organization’s funding was threatened by bullies at Comcast. Reel Grrls responded by raising their own funds and telling the media giant to keep its money.

A Vulcan will find love this summer at Lavizzo Park.

Hello Earth Productions is bringing Outdoor Star Trek back to Lavizzo Park weekends July 23 through August 7. Saturday productions start at 7 p.m. and Sundays start at 2.

Actors will perform live theater based on classic episodes of Star Trek TV episodes. Last year’s productions were a hit even in the rain.

This year, the crew has chosen “This Side of Paradise” (Season1, Episode 24) in which Spock experiences love (what’s geekier, knowing that by heart or looking it up on Wikipedia?).

From Hello Earth:

Hello Earth Productions is proud to announce its second annual “Outdoor Star Trek” performance series. Performances will be Saturdays at 7pm and Sundays at 2pm in Dr. Blanche Lavizzo Park’s amphitheater on the weekends of July 23-24, July 30-31, and August 6-7. The classic episode has the crew of the Enterprise landing on the distant colony, thought to be long deserted, only to find the colonists mysteriously alive and well. Joy DeLyria directs, and the show features Kris Hambrick as Captain James T. Kirk, Helen Parson as Mr. Spock, and live music arranged by Sean Robinson. The show is free and open to the public.

“This Side of Paradise” was written by D.C. Fontana and Nathan Butler, and was the twenty-fourth episode of the first season. It is highly regarded among fans, ranked as one of the top ten episodes of the series on Entertainment Weekly and IGN.com. When the crew of the Enterprise lands on Omicron Ceti Three, they expect to find no survivors. Instead, they find mysterious colonists, mind-altering space pollen, and the final threat to Vulcan logic: love. Thematically, the story explores the conflict between desire and duty and achieving personal pleasure versus social progress. The production aims to both appreciate the humor in the writing and respect the thought-provoking underlying messages. It interprets Star Trek not just as popular culture, but as a piece of art, with timeless concerns that take on timely nuances as American society moves into the future. In order to explore those nuances, the production employs everything from gender-blind casting to eclectic music choices, including but not limited to flute and banjo.

Check out more photos from the 2010 production.

Firefighters and a couple nearby residents rescued a dozen teenagers whose dragon boat had capsized in Lake Washington evening of July 7.

All the teenagers had life vests on and none needed to go to the hospital, though they were “cold and shaken-up,” according to the SFD Fire Line Blog:

Seattle Firefighters were called to the 900 block of Lakeside Drive South in Leschi with reports of an overturned boat with people in the water. Initial reports indicated a racing dragon boat overturned about 150 yards off the shore in choppy waters.

The Seattle Fire Department responded with Engine 6 and Ladder Trucks 3 and 7 along with our Dive Team while the Seattle Police Department brought in its Harbor Patrol boat. Aid Unit 4 and 5 along with Medic Unit 28 and 44 also responded to the scene, ready to treat and transport patients

A couple living on Lake Washington witnessed the boat in trouble. The couple called 911 and jumped in their 25-foot private boat and rescued a dozen of the teenagers. Seattle Police Department’s Harbor Patrol boat rescued the remaining teenagers and brought them to shore.

Seattle Fire Department Medics examined all of the patients who spent about 10 minutes in the water. The teenagers, ages 13 to 18, were cold and shaken-up but fine. None were transported to the hospital.

All of the teenagers were wearing lifejackets at the time of the accident. The president of the dragon boat club says the team practices for accidents like this and racing members are taught to cling-on to the boat until help arrives.

The boat was towed to a nearby park.

While investigating a narcotics call in Lavizzo Park July 6, SPD officers recognized a suspect in a North Seattle robbery. The suspect was arrested.

From the Blotter:

On July 6th, at approximately 8:20 PM, East Precinct officers were investigating a narcotics complaint at Lavizzo Park (2100 South Jackson Street), when one of the officers recognized a person inside the park as a wanted robbery suspect from an earlier Wanted Bulletin. The robbery occurred on July 4th, in North Seattle.   The suspect, a 42 year old female, was arrested and transported to the Robbery Unit where she was interviewed by detectives.  The suspect was later booked into the King County Jail on Investigation of Robbery.

In another report, SPD describes an armed robbery that started at MLK and Cherry:

On July 7th at 12:35 a.m., East Precinct patrol officers responded to a report of a robbery in the 2300 block of Cherry.  The victims, a 29 year old man, a 24 year old woman and an 11 year old boy told officers the following.  The man and the boy had driven to Martin Luther King Jr Way and East Cherry Street to pick up their family member, the 24 year old woman, who was waiting for them.  When they arrived, they saw that the woman was in the company of a 46 year old man, the suspect.  As the woman was getting in the car, the suspect told the family, among other things, that “he was strapped (armed), he was down here keeping her safe (the woman victim) and that he needed to get paid.”  The man showed the suspect an empty wallet, so the suspect got into the car and ordered the victims to drive him to an ATM.  Together, the four drove to one ATM but the victim’s card wouldn’t work.  They then drove to another ATM and the man withdrew $20, which he gave to the suspect.  The suspect then ordered the man to drop him off at 23rd and Cherry.  The suspect got out of the car and began walking eastbound on Cherry Street.  The victims immediately called 911.  Officers contacted the suspect one block away and arrested him without incident. 

Although officers didn’t find a weapon on the suspect, they did locate 2.5 grams of suspected crack cocaine.  The suspect also had a warrant for his arrest.  The suspect was booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Robbery, VUCSA (narcotics) and Kidnapping in addition to the existing warrant.

And, in one more crime report, a couple of attempted burglars were spotted petting their victim’s neighbor’s pit bull July 1 near Madison and 20th, according to the police report:

The suspects were not able to gain entry after damaging a window and a door. Nothing was noted as stolen.

The Jackson Street Music History Project is now up in the vacant lot at 21st and Jackson. Featuring life-sized paintings and photos, the project aims to highlight lesser known yet influential musicians as well as the neighborhood’s well-known music legends.

One of the neighborhood’s empty lots is owned by the Low Income Housing Institute, scheduled to build affordable senior and work-force housing on South Jackson Street in 2013. Curren approached the group about turning some of its unused property into a temporary art installation. They agreed, leased the property to Curren and gave $750 as seed money for the project.

From there, the project kept building momentum.

Casa Latina, a neighborhood nonprofit that matches immigrants with jobs, offered $100, plus volunteer labor to clean up the lot. The Pratt Fine Arts Center said its young students would help with the prints and research a timeline for display.

The local Goodwill pitched in $500. The Jackson Street Corridor Association contributed $1,000. Field Roast Grain Meat on South Jackson Street gave $500.

(Stay tuned for more on that LIHI project)

Curren noted that the Jackson Place neighborhood has a history of organizing to protest the arrival of social service nonprofits that make them feel like a “dumping ground,” according to the Times. Protested organizations include Casa Latina’s arrival and, currently, a proposed Crisis Solutions Center to be operated by the DESC.

The Jackson Street Music History Project is a chance for the neighborhood to unite behind something positive, he said.

“At the core of it, it had to be positive, it had to be working for something rather than against something,” he said.

For more information, check out the project’s Facebook page.

Don’t worry, the mayor didn’t forget about you. Or if he did, he remembers now.

Mayor Mike McGinn recently sent an email to people who attended a Town Hall meeting at Garfield Community Center in March answering some questions he was unable to answer at the time. Among the questions: Can we start a music school in the Horace Mann building? When will SPD start wearing body cameras?

From the mayor:

There were some questions raised on the 22nd that we weren’t able to address at the time. I apologize that it’s taken us this long to answer those questions for you, but I wanted to wait until I could give a more complete answer about our body camera pilot, which I’m now able to do. Here are the questions, along with our answers. 

1.) Can you change the waste bins in the lobby of City Hall to include composting (along with trash and recycling) and make trash the smallest of the three?

We’ve added compost bins in the lobby and upgraded all of the bins to a newer style, similar to what are already being used in all of the offices in City Hall. There’s no size difference between the three bins, but making it easier to find a compost bin will reduce the amount of waste from visitors to City Hall that ultimately makes it into local landfills.

2.) How can community members stay involved with the Carbon Neutral Initiative?

For more information about the City Council’s Carbon Neutral Initiative, please contact Councilmember Mike O’Brien’s office at 206-684-8800, or E-mail Sahar Fathi at [email protected].

3.) How will the Families & Education Levy help independent schools?

The proposed Families & Education Levy includes two elements that could potentially be used to support independent schools. The first is funding for summer school programs, and the second is funding for pre-K programs for 4-year-olds. Funding for both will be awarded through a competitive bidding process, and independent schools will be able to submit proposals in both cases.

For more information, contact the Office for Education at 206-233-5118 or [email protected].

4.) When will the City start a pilot program with body-mounted police video cameras?

Pending ongoing labor discussions, the Seattle Police Deparment is currently preparing to move forward with a limited  pilot program involving motorcycle officers, using body cameras on loan from a local vendor. Because of legal issues surrounding unauthorized recording of civilians by police officers through means other than a dashboard camera, participating officers will need to ask for permission before they turn the cameras on.

We’re still evaluating whether a larger-scale implementation would make sense. The outcome of the initial pilot program will answer a lot of questions, but there are also several major challenges we already know about that we’re working to address right now, including getting the state legislature to exempt the use of body cameras from current privacy laws in the same way that dashboard cameras are currently exempt; and civil rights concerns around footage from the cameras being subject to public disclosure.

5.) What can the Mayor do to help keep Creative Activities and Very Special Arts Washington open?

Unfortunately, the program in question was funded by federal money that’s no longer available, and the space where it was housed, the Seattle Center Artists’ Studio in the Center House, is scheduled for demolition in July as part of the Center House renovation project.

While there aren’t currently any organizations in Seattle that provide free studio space for disabled adults, senior centers and community centers do offer some programming. The Gage Academy of Art still offers excellent youth programs and classes, though, and the Seattle Art Museum has excellent teen programs as well.

6.) Will the City support starting a music school in the Horace Mann school building?

Staff from my office have met with Wyking Garrett about UmojaFest and the great work they do in the community, and we’ve also connected them with the leadership from Peoples Family Life Center. The two organizations have had discussions about the music school. We’re supportive of community groups working together to bring new programs and benefits to the community.

Here’s the timeline on the Horace Mann school building. On December 1, 2009 the Seattle School District issued a Request for Proposals to rent all or a portion of 7 empty schools, including Horace Mann. The District received 17 proposals for the various schools, and the proposal from the Peoples Family Life Center was chosen for Horace Mann out of this process. They were issued a lease agreement on March 30, 2010 that lasts from October 1, 2010 to June 15, 2013. The organization plans to use Horace Mann as the site for Work-It-Out, an educational and job training resource pilot program. According to a timeline from the organization, the implementation of the first phase of their program is slated to start in September of 2011.

The city is repaving the curb lanes on both sides of 23rd Ave S from Jackson to Yesler. The project will be similar to the recent paving near Union, where they repaired the chronically pot-hole-covered curb lanes while avoiding a complete road shutdown. Still be prepared for some delays over the weekend.

From SDOT:

Paving crews of the Seattle Department of Transportation plan to work on 23rd Avenue South from South Jackson Street to Yesler Way this weekend, July 9 and 10, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day, if weather is favorable. One lane will remain open in each direction and traffic will be assisted by Police Officers.  The sidewalks will remain open. 

The paving crews will grind the old asphalt off and lay new asphalt on the northbound and southbound curb lanes.

Tyler Farrar became the first American to win a stage at the Tour de France on the Fourth of July yesterday. His first Tour de France win, Farrar is now one of only two American riders to win stages at each of the three Grand Tours, the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Spanish Vuelta.

Born and raised in Wenatchee, Farrar resides in Madrona part of the year. He got his racing start in the Seattle area, turning heads at Seward Park criterium races. His early Seattle racing days were noted in a Wall Street Journal profile in 2009:

Most cyclists who raced in the Seattle area in the late 1990s remember Tyler Farrar as a teenage sprinting prodigy who used to beat grown men in the prime of their careers. Before he hit puberty he was heading to Seattle’s Seward Park and giving weekend-warrior racers a run for their money. A couple of years later, he’d become one of the dominant cyclists in the area. “I remember comments like, ‘Damn, we just got beat by a 14-year-old,’” says Terry Buchanan, who recruited Mr. Farrar to his Broadmark Capital team. Mr. Farrar raced on regional teams in Seattle, went pro at 18 and by 21 was considered one of the top sprinters in the U.S.

Riding for the Garmin-Cervelo team, Farrar made a “W” with his hands after crossing the finish line July 4, a symbol that he had dedicated the victory to his long-time friend and teammate Wouter Weylandt. Weylandt died earlier this year after crashing during the Giro d’Italia race. His death was the first in a major cycling race in 16 years.

It was unclear whether Farrar would even race in the Tour de France after taking weeks off from riding to mourn the loss of his friend, but he decided to come back to the sport and work extra hard to make up the lost training time to be ready for the tour. From the Associated Press:

“This has been a horrible last two months, with everything that happened in the Giro,” Farrar said. “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs. But in the end, I wanted to be able to come back, and do something special to pay tribute and this is certainly the biggest stage in the world to do that.”

Farrar’s win came at the end of a 123-mile stage from Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon, which he finished in four hours and forty minutes. To put that in perspective, Wenatchee is 139 miles from Madrona. So for someone like Tyler Farrar, his home in Madrona is merely a bike ride away from his hometown in Central Washington.

Apparently, all kids in the CD need is a couple inches of water and it’s playtime mayhem.

The Powell Barnett Wading Pool was open July 2 for the first of many ankle-moistening Saturdays this summer, and neighborhood kids were making the most of it. They were splashing, wrestling, inventing games and making new friends.

The city was going to keep the pool dry all year amid budget cuts, but a community effort raised enough money to keep the pool open Saturdays during the summer. Donations from 60 community members, most of them less than $50, combined with a $300 donation from Central District News and our sister site Capitol Hill Seattle to raise about $3,500 of the $4,400 needed to keep the pool open.

A loan from an anonymous donor covered the rest, and organizers have been working to raise the remaining funds, including holding a fundraiser at All-Purpose Pizza (a CDN sponsor) in June in which the shop donated a portion of its proceeds to the pool.

23rd Avenue is about to get several more pieces of public art as students and artists collaborate to create the Corridor of Peace. Planners hope to celebrate the project installation by encouraging people to come out July 9 to form a line of people holding hands all the way from Union to Jackson.

Three projects will be installed between the two streets as a way to help “clean up the neighborhood and make it free of drugs and violence,” said Randy Beaulieu, Central Seattle Drug Free Communities Coordinator for Seattle Public Schools. One project will be at the site of the old Pratt mural at 23rd and Union, one will be near Coyote Central’s new location at 23rd and Cherry, and one will be near 23rd and Jackson.

“We had to find a way to collaborate with kids that had a theme everyone would be on board with,” he said. The project is also an opportunity for youth to learn more about the history of their neighborhoods.

“We wanted to share each place’s history through art,” said Beaulieu. “They can take ownership of their community.”

For each piece, an artist is working with a group of young people from each area to create works painted on plywood that will be installed at each site. Students from Madrona Elementary are working on the piece at Union, Garfield students are working on the one at Cherry and Washington Middle School students are working on the piece at Jackson.

The project installations will occur July 9, and planners hope to get 1,700 people to come out for the celebration and hold hands from Union to Jackson. The hand holding will start at 10:30 a.m. with lines beginning at Jackson and Union, each heading toward Cherry.