Celebrate the Council!

The September meeting will feature the projects supported by the Leschi Community Council: the various parks projects and the music program at Leschi Elementary School.

Follow the improvements at Frink Park by watching the slides and listening to Darrell Howe and Darcy Thompson tell us what the goals are for this enormous site.  The Leschi Natural Area and the String of Pearls will also be featured and discussed. 

September 7 at  7:30 PM

Central Area Senior Center

500 30th S, one block south of Jackson

With the first days of the new school year here, Garfield High School is in the news — but it’s not for successfully deploying a small army of substitute teachers to make sure last year’s overcrowding issues didn’t mar the start of the school year. Instead, Garfield’s new high school football coach is being talked about on sports pages around the country:

Garfield coach cites safety issue after forfeiting football game
Garfield High School’s football season opener at Lake Washington of Kirkland on Friday ended in a forfeit after the Bulldogs’ first-year coach, Kelvin Goliday, was ejected and his team refused to return to the field.

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Less than two minutes into the third quarter, after a Garfield fumble was recovered by Lake Washington with the Bulldogs trailing 14-0, Goliday called a timeout to talk to the officials.

“In my opinion the whistles were slow,” Goliday said. “I called a timeout early in the third quarter to talk to the ref about maybe getting quicker whistles so that no one gets hurt. This was both sides of the ball. At the time the fumble occurred, I felt the whistle should have blown long before that.”

Goliday was hired from a San Diego-area high school last spring to help bring “a new start” to Bulldog football.

He has been placed on administrative leave while the school district looks into the issue.

The Bulldogs take on Sammamish Friday night at Memorial Stadium. More information is at http://www.garfieldfootball.com/

Reader Xtine asked about all the emergency vehicles at 28th and Yesler last night:

Just drove by (8:20pm) and Yesler is blocked off at MLK just like the night Officer Brenton was shot, when I drove by shortly after that happened.  Plenty of patrol cars and what looked like a black paddy wagon.

Unfortunately, it looks like another emergency responder was hurt. A firefighter responding to a medical call at 28th and Yesler Tuesday night ended up in the hospital after being struck by a car at the intersection.

A lengthy investigation tied up the intersection of 28th and Yesler as police evaluated the driver for signs of impairment. According to the SPD report, the driver showed no signs of driving under the influence and said the sun was in her eyes at the time of the collision.

The firefighter was evaluated at the hospital and released without serious injury. The full report from SPD on the incident is below.

On September 6th, at approximately 6:40 pm, a Seattle Fire Fighter was assisting in backing an ambulance, which had just responded to a medical call, from 28th Avenue onto East Yesler Way. 

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A driver in a Toyota Camry,  travelling westbound on East Yesler Way, did not see the Fire Fighter due to the setting sun in her eyes.  Unfortunately, the driver was unable to stop the Camry before striking him.  The Fire Fighter hit his head on the windshield of the car before hitting the ground.  He was immediately attended to by the other Fire Fighters and then transported to Harborview Medical Center, where he was checked out and later released.  He is expected to make a full recovery.

Detectives from the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad (TCIS) responded to the location and processed the scene.  The driver was evaluated for any signs of impairment, but none were detected.  The driver was interviewed and released.  TCIS will continue to follow up on the investigation.

Just drove by (8:20pm) and Yesler is blocked off at MLK just like the night Officer Brenton was shot, when I drove by shortly after that happened.  Plenty of patrol cars and what looked like a black paddy wagon.

A confusing incident scene and a long holiday weekend conspired to add to the mystery surrounding the account of a “shots fired” scare disrupting Saturday’s rally against neighborhood violence at Powell Barnett Park.

Here’s the brief report on the situation provided to Central District News by SPD Tuesday afternoon about the Saturday incident:

At approximately 1800 hours radio received multiple calls of shots fired in Powell Barnett Park.  Callers were saying that shots were being fired and “lots of people” were running from the park.  Multiple officers responded and flooded the park area.  There were conflicting reports of the shooter and descriptions of various vehicles that may have been fleeing the scene. Officers could locate a real scene due to conflicting witness accounts.

A spate of gunfire incidents marred the long Labor Day holiday weekend in the Central District but no victims or damage was identified in any of the reports.

The time has come for the LCC to resume its monthly general meetings.  Our next meeting will be tomorrow evening from 7:30 – 9pm at the Central Area Senior Center. We invite all of our neighbors to join us for the discussions.

Celebrate the Council!

The September meeting will feature the projects supported by the Leschi Community Council: the various parks projects and the music program at Leschi Elementary School.

Follow the improvements at Frink Park by watching the slides and listening to Darrell Howe and Darcy Thompson tell us what the goals are for this enormous site.  The Leschi Natural Area and the String of Pearls will also be featured and discussed. 

September 7  7:30 PM

Central Area Senior Center

500 30th S, one block south of Jackson

It’s back to school time. Here are a few notes from schools around neighborhood:

• The first day of school for Seattle Public Schools is September 7.
• A proposal to redraw the Stevens Elementary boundary to stop at Madison was quickly withdrawn earlier this year. For now.
• Garfield High sports stars should expect to take real Spanish classes this year after last school year’s Athletic Director firing.
• Rudy’s gave free back to school haircuts at the Yesler Community Center September 1:

  Photo via Rudy’s facebook page.

• Lowell Elementary will start the year without it’s usual Accelerated Progress Program, which has been moved to Lincoln Elementary in Wallingford. For neighborhood families with APP-enrolled kids, the change is likely to cause headache. But others, such as Jennifer Brown of the Lowell PTA, say the change could be “an opportunity for Lowell to thrive and grow as a neighborhood school.”
• Seattle Public Schools has created a new three-tiered transportation system for schools. From the district’s FAQ:

Operationally we are moving from a two (2) to a three (3) tiered bus routing system. This means that some buses will drive three (3) routes in the AM and PM instead of just two (2).

A new Transportation Zone system means that an estimated 3,600 elementary students, who received bus transportation in the 2010‐2011 school year, have residences outside of the new transportation zones. These students will be accommodated as follows:

•    Students who live within a half of a mile from the Transportation Zone boundary can walk to a bus stop within the zone. Seats will be allocated on a space‐available basis.

•    Community stops will be created so students can catch a yellow bus near an attendance area school and take it to another school.

•    Students who are no longer eligible for transportation will receive a guaranteed assignment to their attendance area school, if requested.

You can find the transportation zone maps for your school at the SPS Transportation website. You can also check online to see if a school bus is running late. Note: All buses will be running late on purpose for the first two weeks as part of an effort to check kids in as they embark and disembark to ensure they are on the right bus.

Have any other neighborhood back to school news or tips to share? Leave them in the comments.

Maybe we should just do a “shots fired” open thread for the weekend. No victims, no damage:

On 9/4/11, at approximately 10:10 p.m., officers responded to multiple calls of shots fired in the area of E. Cherry St and 26

^th Ave E.  Callers also reported seeing two vehicles driving down the street with the occupants of one vehicle firing at the other.  No one appears to have been injured, and officers did not locate a crime scene or either vehicle.  According to the complainants, the occupants of a Black Dodge Charger were firing at the occupants of a Blue Chevy Caprice. The suspect vehicle was then reported to have fled the area N/B on 26^th.

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The responding officers did not find the victim vehicle, or any victims.  They did stop one possible suspect vehicle in the immediate area, but it turned out not to be related to the incident.  While the officers were checking the area for the first reported shooting, another call came in reporting shots heard in the area of E. Cherry Street and 19

^th Ave E. The officers checked that area, as well as the area around E. Terrace Street and 22^ndAve E, which one of the bystanders in the area indicated might be the source of the shots. Again, officers did not find any victims or a scene.

Officers also responded to Harborview Medical Center to check for victims, but there were no reported gunshot victims during this time period. It is not known for sure if these incidents are directly related, but the possibility does exist based on the timing and locations of the calls.

Two posters to the popular “Madrona Mom’s” email list say that a neighborhood rally in Powell Barnett park against violence was disrupted Saturday by a scare sparked by reports of gunshots.

We have not yet been able to confirm with SPD what happened at the park Saturday afternoon but SPD did post information about another shots fired incident a half-mile away from where the rally was taking place — and, according to SPD, hours after the incident reported by two people posting to the mom’s list. SPD says no evidence of gunshots was found in that later Saturday incident reported near 28th and Jackson.

Here is one account of the Saturday afternoon incident from a Madrona Mom’s poster:

We were at Powell Barnett park this afternoon when gun shots were fired and it was a scary scene to say the least. I have never felt threatened there before and we go there often, but now I am reconsidering if we should go there at all. I want to support our community and I don’t want a few negative people to ruin a wonderful community park, but I also need to be realistic about the safety of my family. I’m curious if anyone else was there today or if anyone else has any thoughts regarding this.

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Another poster corroborated the story and added additional details:

The police were on the scene fairly quickly, which is comforting, though wewere already two blocks away when we heard the shots fired.

What saddens me is that this happened during a rally intended to promotepeace, love, and responsibility in the local African American community. Therally was well attended, and the gun scare occurred while one of thespeakers was encoouraging the people of his community to be good parents, bepresen for their children and tea h them that they can be successful,despite “society’s judgements.” He then said into the microphone “you havegot to be kidding me!” as the crowd RAN from the perpetrator.

I hope this is my first and last experience like this.

Earlier in the day, another mom’s list poster e-mailed the list about the rally:

Today, Saturday at 2:30 is a program to bring people together to combat neighborhood violence. There will be a memorial service, city officials, music and hip hop. They are collecting blankets and canned goods to donate to CAMP as well as a woman’s shelter. It is sponsored by a non profit called Rising to the Top. Please come if you are able and show our continued support.

Central District News is looking into the incident and will continue to try to find out more about what occurred.

My 3-year old, Kian, is missing his “fatboy” pedal bike: we’re not sure if it was taken from our porch or if it was left out on the sidewalk, but we really hope to get this bike back. Its a bit of a family heirloom with all the cousins having started out on this bike beginning more than 12-years ago. Its black with a white bike seat and handlebars, colored spokes and it has 12″ sized tires. Please keep an eye out and drop us a line if you find it. [email protected].  Many thanks!