West Seattle Crime Watch: Pigeon Point 11-car rampage
First, this note went out last night on the Pigeon Point neighborhood list:
Two cars in the 4100 block of 20th Ave were car prowled, a van at the very north end of 20th Ave was burglarized and a vehicle was stolen from the corner of 21st Ave and SW Genesee. [map]
Then tonight, Pigeon Point neighborhood organizer Pete Spalding sent this followup:
Just wanted to give everyone a quick update of what I have learned in the last 24 hours. It seems that at a minimum there were 11 vehicles that were either car prowled, vandalized, burglarized or stolen on Sunday evening/night. Most of these were on 20th Ave SW and the one that was stolen was on 21st.
Pete also reminded Pigeon Point’ers that this is a good time to organize a Block Watch if you don’t have one already, and a good time to meet with yours if you do. (Benjamin Kinlow, crime-prevention coordinator at the Southwest Precinct, is the person to contact about setting one up.)
West Seattle YMCA Partners With Youth “victory party” tonight
As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child – and in the case of this story, it takes a village of fundraisers to rustle up the money for programs to help kids. The West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) gathered fundraising volunteers at The Hall at Fauntleroy tonight for the Partners With Youth Campaign “victory celebration”: More than $202,000 raised, close to the $205K target (half of the total $410K goal, with the other half raised by the Y’s Board of Managers). This money goes to keep YMCA programs accessible to kids, teens, and families in West Seattle, Vashon, and South Park. Tonight’s event brought together volunteers to report their individual achievements – those who exceeded certain personal goals got T-shirts – the photo above shows Katie Taylor, director of the Y’s afterschool program at Madison, calling out goal-exceeders’ names. (The Y website offers online-donation opportunities, by the way.)
Welcoming a new WSB sponsor: Envision Homes
We’re welcoming a new WSB sponsor: Envision Homes. Every time a new sponsor joins, we offer them the chance to tell you about their business, so here’s what Envision 
Homes wants you to know: “In 2000, we started Envision Homes, with the basic idea that we envisioned homes that were energy and resource efficient, clean and low toxic, durable and well crafted … to leave a legacy of responsible and conscience building. For the last nine years, our dedication to sustainable building has continued to gain momentum. (We love what we do.) We are small and personal, passionate about sustainable building, exceptional project managers and proud craftsmen. Our fees and hourly rates are very competitive, but mostly, our value is compelling. Our competitively priced lead carpenters are friendly, efficient, creative and clean. They also act as site supervisors, dedicated to each client. Our clients enjoy focused site supervisors who are proud builders, share our commitment to environmentally friendly building practices, and build positive client relationships. We believe the experience of the project is just as important as the result. But what really sets us apart is our dedication to sustainable remodeling, our continuing education on building sciences, our involvement and sponsorship of major local sustainable building organizations, public, college and outreach speaking and lecture programs. Each client gets the full benefit of our product and application knowledge in making informed decisions about their project, in all aspects of residential building sciences, renewable energy and materials, all of which is included in our very competitive GC fee.” Envision Homes is currently sponsoring the WSB Crime Watch page, where you will see their ad banner; you can find them online by going here, and you can call Envision Homes at 206-356-7853. We’re glad to have them on the WSB sponsor team, listed in its entirety here, where you’ll also find information on how to be part of it.
To catch a car thief: The video the prosecutor showed
That’s the video we mentioned in our earlier report on King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg‘s presentation today to the Rotary Club of West Seattle; as soon as we saw it, even before Satterberg finished speaking, we sent a note to his media liaison to ask if we could have a copy to share with you – it is quite the gripping clip, with video and audio from inside a police car as officers worked to stop the driver of a stolen car, who sped throughout West Seattle one night in November 2007. Not sure if this has been made public before – we were still working in TV news then, and don’t remember having seen it – nonetheless, it’s worth a look. As Satterberg observed, “This is why auto theft is not really a nonviolent crime – it’s amazing (in this case) that no one got killed.” (As for what happened to the guy arrested at the end of this – that’ll be another followup.)
More time to register to vote: Sen. Joe McDermott’s bill advances
As we reported in coverage of last month’s 34th District Democrats meeting, West Seattle State Sen. Joe McDermott thinks you should be able to register to vote all the way up till Election Day. But that’s not a popular idea, yet, so he is heading that way incrementally: The Senate has approved a bill he’s co-sponsoring, to move the in-person voter-registration deadline a week later, to 8 days pre-election. According to a Legislature news release, the 8 states allowing Election Day registration have voter participation averaging 10 percent higher than other states. His bill, SB 5270 (status and other links here), now moves to the House.
Prosecuting Attorney tells West Seattle Rotary a “remarkable” story
That’s King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, special guest at this afternoon’s meeting of the Rotary Club of West Seattle at Salty’s on Alki. He shared what he described as a “remarkable” story — one that might cheer you up a bit, if the off-and-on deluge of Crime Watch reports tends to leave you worried. Satterberg said the crackdown on car theft has brought dramatic results – and he says that’s particularly important because car theft is seen as a springboard to other crimes; someone steals a car to go commit burglaries, or worse. Read on to hear about the numbers he listed, what else he told the Rotarians, and after that, a few notes about what they’re up to:Read More
New scholarships at South Seattle Community College
SSCC (West Seattle’s only college) just sent this out and wanted to make sure you knew:
Thanks to a generous donor to the South Seattle Community College Foundation, we have an opportunity to offer a special scholarship round to award two full scholarships (3 quarters each) to two students who have been in the U.S. Foster Care System.
Because it can be challenging to contact students who are eligible for this scholarship, we encourage you to let all students know it is available so they can determine whether or not to apply.
The application deadline is Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 4:00 p.m. in the Development Office, Room RS-01.
Application is available online; call 206 764-5809 for additional information.
West Seattle parking alert: New limits in Luna Park
(photo added 2:22 pm)
Dave Brewer e-mailed to share this alert:
On the 2900 block of SW Avalon Way, a section on the east side of the street that used to have no-limit parking is now a 2 hour zone. My assumption is that it has to do with Cafe Revo, directly across from the area.
Riders in my van pool (as well as at least three others that I am aware of) have been parking in this area during the work day for a couple years, so a warning to any others who have been doing the same.
Further up the hill (across from Ola, animal clinic, and beyond), is still unlimited.
We’ll be checking with SDOT to find out more, and see if anything’s in store for other areas of West Seattle.
Update: Seattle Lutheran’s journey to the state tournament
(video added 2:06 pm, SLHS gym sendoff for the teams just before 1 pm )
An update this morning from Bil Hood at Seattle Lutheran High School (which is on the northeast edge of The Junction):
Our basketball teams are heading to Spokane this afternoon for the State Basketball Tournament in Spokane.
The boys get started tomorrow night at 5:30 v.s the number 2 team in the state, Napavine. The girls follow at 9 vs. the number 2 girls team, Colfax.
There are links at www.SeattleLutheran.org to live audio and video feeds from the games as well as a cell phone text service that will send you the scores as they happen.
GO SAINTS!!
ADDED 2:06 PM: Video of this afternoon’s sendoff for the teams, before they left SLHS.
P.S. FROM ORIGINAL REPORT: One other high-school basketball note – we told you yesterday morning that Chief Sealth is in the running for its match vs. Cleveland to be chosen channel 7’s “Game of the Week” if it wins a webpoll – last hour to vote – go here (right sidebar). ADDED 2:05 PM: Thanks for voting – they won. Now, they’re trying to sort out exactly what that means – what kind of showcase the game will get – we’ll keep you posted.
Happening now: Denny, Concord “international school” celebration
We’re at Concord Elementary School — which is in South Park but is part of Seattle Public Schools‘ “West Seattle South” grouping — where a celebration is just wrapping up in honor of the recent designation of Concord and Denny Middle School as “international schools.” Above, you see members of the Denny steel-drum band and masked Concord second-grade dancers, who performed for dignitaries including Denny principal Jeff Clark, Concord principal Sandra Scott, and Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson. More highlights in a bit, along with details on specifics of exactly what this designation means to these two schools. (Clark, by the way, has ties to both schools – he mentioned he’s best known at Concord as “Gabe’s dad,” because his first-grader is in the immersion program, which now serves kindergarteners and first graders and will add second grade in the fall.) ADDED 11:46 AM: More from this morning’s event, including video: Read More
It’s the rectangle of grass on the northwest corner of Alaska/42nd, at the foot of one tall building now, with more in the works across Alaska. Tonight, you are invited to share the next step toward turning
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