The official documentation is here:

http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/btg_nsf_large_garfield

Significant repairs and improvements around the Garfield “super block” including Medgar Evers, the Community Center and the playground/ballfields. Also a new raised crosswalk on Cherry headed north to the Nova building.

The student-illustrated posters have been popping up around Madrona, which means it’s time for the annual Epiphany School Carnival. This year’s event is tomorrow (Friday) Sept. 24, from 3-6 p.m.

The traditional festivities are open to neighborhood families as well as the Epiphany community. It’s a good opportunity for neighbors to check out the remodeled campus and expansion, which we wrote about earlier this month.

Activities include a bouncy house, dunk tank, raffle, games, bake sale, book and toy sale, and a food booth. The carnival will go on rain or shine.

From the rainy streets of Seattle’s East Precinct:

Looking for some neighborhood eats for tonight? You’re in luck, because it’s time for our semi-monthly update on reviews left businesses in our neighborhood directory:

Charlies Flame Broiled Burgers gets high marks from prattpark3, who says it’s “by far the best burger place around.”  Better than Red Mill? That’s a bold statement for sure

Taco City USA seems to have sinking reviews since their initial debut. andyk says “It was OK i guess”, Elvis says “quite possibly the worst mexican food i’ve ever had”, and sfqua06 says “what you’d expect.”

Cheeky Cafe (a new CDNews sponsor) is still getting high marks, with prattpark3 saying they had “outstanding service and spectacular food.”  Their new brunch is getting rave reviews too: CDgal loves the “fluffy pancakes”, and sohocoffee loved the french toast, bacon, and eggs.

Ezells appears to either have big fans or haters. eprince says “Chicken the way it’s supposed to be”, but andyk says “the chicken is too salty for my taste” and that it’s too expensive.

Seven Star Women’s Kung Fu is “a wonderful place” according to cbok.

Bottlehouse in Madrona has a “great wine selection” and tasty appetizers according to CDNews reviewer extraordinaire CDgal

Soho Coffee Company (a long-time CDNews sponsor) has a big fan in cdryan, who loves the music, wifi, Stumptown coffee, and friendly staff.

We got a note tonight from Robert Cipollone from the Brenton memorial committee in Leschi, announcing that today they reached their $25,000 fundraising goal, covering the full cost of the project to build a roadside memorial to fallen Officer Tim Brenton.

On Monday we reported that the group was $10,000 short of their goal. But in the last two days they’ve found that the BluWater Duck Derby raised $2,000, and a recent BBQ fundraiser by the police and fire guilds has raised an additional $8,000.

Robert told us “as a resident of Leschi and developer of the memorial, I am so grateful and touched by the generosity of these organizations. Their donated time and energy will make sure this memorial is built.”

The committee is still welcoming additional contributions from the community as they try to build funds for long-term maintenance of the memorial. Current funds on hand should provide for up to 10 years of professional maintenance. Additional donations could increase that to 20 or 30 years.

We’ve been following up on our exclusive story from last Thursday on Operation Safe Union, which resulted in the arrest of seventeen alleged drug dealers in an effort to pick up where last year’s Drug Market Initiative left off.

After poring through hundreds of pages of court documents, we’ve been able to assemble the details of the felony charges that are facing six of the men targeted by the drug operation.

Overall the operation followed a standard routine for everyone involved. First the initial information is developed on dealer suspects, usually through tips from cooperating witnesses. Then detectives direct the witness or undercover officers to arrange a series of drug buys from the suspect, often with heavy surveillance of the suspect’s activities before and after the buy. Then once a few buys have been concluded and documented, police get search warrants for the suspects house, car, and person, and go out and make an arrest.

Here’s the details for six of the suspects charged with felonies that we’ve been able to identify through court records:

• Ashleigh P. Bailey, 27 years old, allegedly sold $100 of crack cocaine to a police witness on two separate occasions at his home in the 700 block of 27th Avenue. A search warrant was issued against his home, resulting in the recovery of cocaine, oxycodone pills, marijuana, $1,400 cash, and a variety of other drug paraphenalia including scales and small baggies.  Bailey has had 13 arrest warrants and 11 jail bookings in King County, and previous convictions for drug dealing, 2nd degree robbery, and motor vehicle theft.
• John L. Bell, 35 years old, allegedly sold $20 of crack to an undercover officer near the post office at 23rd & Union. He has had 62 warrants and 66 jail bookings since 1993, six previous drug convictions, and a robbery conviction in 2005. He apparently lives outside the neighborhood, with a last known address in the 800 block of 18th Avenue SW.
• Craig Hines, 50 years old, allegedly sold $90 of crack to a police witness on two separate afternoons in the 2300 block of Union. He has had 60 warrants on 59 bookings since 1985, and 5 previous felony convictions for drug offenses, forgery, assault, theft, and motor vehicle theft.
• William Hunt, 41 years old, allegedly sold $40 of crack to an undercover police officer at 24th & Union. He has had 26 warrants on 43 jail bookings since 1987, five previous convictions for drugs, and one conviction for first degree theft.
• Brian L. Turner, 27, was allegedly involved in drug transactions outside his house in the 2100 block of Union, and allegedly sold $260 of crack to a police witness on 3 separate occasions. Two times that occurred at the 23rd & Union Safeway, including once when he was shopping there with a woman and an 8 year old child. On a third occasion, he allegedly sold the police witness $60 of crack to the same witness at a bus stop at 19th & E. Thomas, while he was standing there with the 8 year old. He allegedly asked the buyer to step away and not conduct the transaction within view of the child. He has previous felony convictions for drug dealing, marijuana possession, and DUI.
• Omar S. Tweedy, 37, is alleged to have sold crack cocaine to a police witness on four separate occasions. Once  for $100 in the Walgreens parking lot at 24th & Jackson, once for $100 at 29th & Yesler, and twice for a total of $300 from his business in the 800 block of 23rd Avenue. He has previous felony convictions for 2nd degree murder, 3rd degree assault, and 3 previous felony drug convictions. Police executed a search warrant against Tweedy’s home in the 100 block of 28th Avenue, recovering 134 tablets of MDMA. At the time of his arrest, he was found with several bundles of marijuana, $901 currency, and 2 cell phones.

Charging documents for all six suspects are attached above, and given a variety of other colorful details on the investigations from Operation Safe Union.

As part of their legal justification for the charges, police say that the arrestees live in the area and “mostly sell to local users, further infesting an already troubled community”

Finally a stretch of nice weather, just in time for the last day of summer. Here’s the scoop from Seattle’s East Precinct

Apparently fall officially starts tonight at 8:09 p.m. To help you get one last lick of summer (pardon the pun), Molly Moon’s ice cream truck will be parked in front of Buggy today from 3-5 p.m.

While you never know which flavors the truck will be serving, the website gives a sampling of some favorites.

And Dulces regular Wednesday free wine tasting (with free appetizers) is also today from 4-7 p.m., showcasing wines from Small Lot Co-op.

Dear Community Stakeholders:

Please come to our East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition meeting tonight, Thursday, September 23

^rd at 6 PM.

 Randy Beaulieu, on the EPCPC Board and the Central Seattle Drug Free Communities Coalition Coordinator, will be presenting some very interesting findings from the recent surveys administered to over 2000 students and all staff members from Madrona K-8, Washington Middle School, and Garfield High School.

 The focus of the student surveys included levels and perceptions of student substance use, personal access to alcohol and marijuana, perceptions of community and school enforcement, and parental/adult involvement in youth substance use.

 The survey was also given to all staff members of the target schools, focusing on awareness/knowledge of discipline policies around substance use at schools, understanding of how to respond in instances where students are using substances at schools, confidence in abilities to address such situations and levels of past training on substance issues.

 Also on our agenda will be Steve Freng, from the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program. King County is among several areas within the United States identified as exhibiting serious drug trafficking problems. Designated to receive additional federal resources, the HIDTA program works with local law enforcement to help eliminate or reduce drug trafficking and its harmful consequences.

 Hope to see you all tomorrow!

 Stephanie Tschida, Chair

East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition

Thursday, September 23

^rd, 6 PM

Seattle Vocational Institute

2120 S Jackson St

Free parking in the north side of the building’s parking lot

A year and a half ago we reported on the temporary relocation of the Seattle University library as the school launched a 37,000 square foot expansion and remodeling of the school’s Lemieux LIbrary building.

That remodeling is now complete, the construction fences have come down, and a shining new facade has been revealed to the rest of the campus. If the 60’s and 70’s were the dark era of academic architecture (which was definitely the case at my alma mater), it seems like the new millenium could be a new golden era for campus building:

The plaza in front of the building includes a water feature and small depression that provides a natural system for stormwater treatment.

And perhaps most importantly for foot-oriented Central District commuters, Columbia Street is now completely reopened on campus, restoring the direct connection to Swedish Hospital and the rest of First Hill.