West Seattle Crime Watch: Police brief Fairmount Springs neighbors
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
At the heart of a meeting tonight in Fairmount Springs was not a victim, but a person – a neighbor in the hospital, for reasons not yet understood, fighting to recover from serious injuries she suffered in some kind of attack.
She’s in stable condition, reported neighbors at the meeting’s start. Then at the meeting’s end, a prayer for her physical and emotional recovery was offered, by the pastor of the church where about 50 neighbors gathered.
And the neighbors’ condition was a source of concern too. Don’t be frightened, exhorted police. “It’s not the one who did this that’s the powerful one – you are,” asserted Mark Solomon, the Southwest Precinct‘s Crime Prevention Coordinator.
He spoke along with the top two Seattle Police leaders from the precinct, its commander, Capt. Steve Paulsen, and operations Lt. Pierre Davis. Before the meeting was out, City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen had offered a few words too.
The gathering at West Seattle Church of the Nazarene was the first major neighborhood meeting since another one sparked by crime concerns a year and a half ago (here’s our report from that night). And as it concluded, neighbors agreed they would like to meet more often – maybe quarterly – though they already are bound by strong Block Watches and a much-used mailing list. But first: What police said tonight about the Sunday morning attack, reported in the 5900 block of 41st SW – ahead:Read More
Denny/Sealth shared campus: Principals talk plans, logistics
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Almost four full years ago, the principals of what were then Chief Sealth High School and Denny Middle School stood before a concerned crowd at Southwest Community Center and apologized for not enough community outreach about the plan for their schools to share a campus.
Flash forward to last night. The principals are the same – Sealth’s John Boyd, Denny’s Jeff Clark. The schools are both now “international” schools. And the shared campus is almost complete; a new Denny has arisen next to the remodeled Sealth, which reopened last fall after two years of work, and is scheduled to open this summer.
Last night, not far from SWCC — where they had faced concerned community members in 2007 — they stood together before a group to again talk about the shared campus – this time, about the practicalities, the procedures, the reality of what it should be like next fall, when the middle schoolers and high schoolers are on the same campus, the first co-located campuses in the district.
The meeting yielded new information, such as the schools’ start/end times for next year and expected enrollment.
Read More
Another review complete for Barton sewer-overflow-control proposal
(County map showing where the “green stormwater infrastructure” is proposed for the area feeding the Murray pump station; go here for larger version)
King County says its environmental review is complete for the “green stormwater infrastructure” proposal to reduce combined-sewer overflows (CSO) from the Barton pump station – which is actually a few miles downhill from where the “infrastructure” would be built to hold water. The result: A “determination of nonsignificance.” That’s another hurdle cleared for the proposal. You can see the actual “determination of nonsignificance” here (PDF); comments will be taken through May 31st, and the county wants them postal-mailed to:
Wesley Sprague, Supervisor Community Services and Environmental Planning
King County Wastewater Treatment Division
201 South Jackson Street, MS: KSC‐NR‐0505
Seattle, WA 98104‐3855
The proposal would create “bioswales” to hold rainwater, mostly in planting-strip areas, so it can go into the ground instead of into the sewer system. Dozens of them would be installed at various locations in the Sunrise Heights/Westwood neighborhoods shown in the map above. The proposal was discussed again at a community meeting last month (WSB coverage here).
Video: 34th District Democrats host City Council candidates’ forum
Campaign season is under way. Two Seattle City Council candidates were at Tuesday night’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting – Position 1 candidate Michael Taylor-Judd and Position 9 candidate Dian Ferguson – and last night, one dozen candidates appeared before our area’s biggest political organization, the 34th District Democrats.
Our video shows the entire forum, unedited, with these candidates (two more were on the agenda but didn’t show): For Position 1, Councilmember Jean Godden, Michael Taylor-Judd, Bobby Forch, Maurice Classen, David Schraer; for Position 3, Councilmember Bruce Harrell, Brad Meachum; for Position 5, Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, Sandy Cioffi; for Position 7, Councilmember Tim Burgess (whose lone declared opponent Darryl Carter Metcalf was a no-show); for Position 9, Councilmember Sally Clark, Dian Ferguson (the other declared candidate Fathi Karshie was a no-show). August 16th is the primary, which will narrow to the top two candidates any race that has three or more.
West Seattle Crime Watch: Fairmount Springs investigation update
Police have released more information about the case we reported here on Monday, a woman who is in the hospital and told police she was attacked by someone in her Fairmount Springs home. Seattle Police media-unit Det. Mark Jamieson says there is no question the woman was seriously injured – but police do not believe it happened in her home; there is no sign of a struggle or other evidence there indicating an attack. According to the police-report narrative in the case, the original call did not come from the woman’s home; the victim showed up at a neighbor’s house early Sunday morning saying she was “hurt and needed to sleep.” Then the neighbor noticed the woman was clearly injured, and called 911. The victim told police she woke up to find a man in her room; he said nothing but restrained her, then sat on her, and tried to strangle her. She said she fought back, and that she lost consciousness and awoke later to find him gone, at which time she said she managed to get herself free and walked over to her neighbor’s house. Police also confirm they questioned someone yesterday in connection with the case but that no one is currently under arrest. The victim remains at Harborview Medical Center, and because of her condition, Det. Jamieson says, police have been unable to talk more with her yet about what happened and where it happened.
West Seattle Thursday: Art Walk; Style ’11; Oklahoma!; Talarico’s
(Final wayfinding kiosk of project’s 1st phase now in place, near Seacrest – Wednesday afternoon photo courtesy Chas Redmond)
Delayed by breaking news, a quick look at tonight’s highlights from the WSB West Seattle Events calendar:
WEST SEATTLE ART WALK: Monthly event – every second Thursday – at dozens of venues all over West Seattle. Many have the artists on hand and offer free refreshments, too – every venue handles Art Walk night a bit differently, and that’s part of the fun. Here’s the map/list for tonight’s venues. Get the artist highlights by going to the official Art Walk site at wsartwalk.com. 6-9 pm.
STYLE ’11: The annual fundraiser spring fashion show for Northwest Hope and Healing‘s work helping breast-cancer patients, involving West Seattle boutiques and other WS participants, is tonight at Showbox SODO, 7 pm. Tickets available at the door. Lots of info here.
OPENING NIGHT FOR ‘OKLAHOMA!’ West Seattle High School‘s spring musical opens tonight in the school theater, 7:30 pm. Full details in our preview from last night, including special events during the run.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TALARICO’S: Talarico Pizza’s 5-year anniversary party (4718 California Ave SW). Happy hour food and drink specials open till close. Also video DJ that will be mixing music and music videos in real time from 9:30 til close. Party is Mafioso themed so suggested attire is “roaring 20’s.” No cover & food will be served until 1 am.
Update: West Seattle Water Taxi idled, ‘mechanical problem’
(EDITOR’S NOTE: We’ll add updates to this story as the morning goes on when new info is available)
8:18 AM: We haven’t officially confirmed it, and no alert has come from the county, but we’ve received two reports now that something is going on with the West Seattle Water Taxi. More to come as soon as we get something confirmed.
8:34 AM UPDATE: Tracy sent a note saying she’s been told it’s out of service for at least two hours. Jim sent the photo we’ve added above, saying it’s in the water south of Seacrest with what he believes is a police boat, lights on, nearby.
9 AM UPDATE: Another photo, from Al, which clearly shows a boat labeled police; SPD isn’t showing anything in the area. A county spokesperson is handling our inquiry but still no official info on what’s going on.
9:07 AM UPDATE: Mechanical problem, Rochelle Ogershok with King County Department of Transportation now confirms. She says they haven’t figured out yet how the schedule will be affected. We’re also asking why the alert system didn’t kick in, since this has been going on for at least an hour and there’s been no text alert for riders to warn them of a problem.
9:42 AM UPDATE: The official text alert has now arrived, saying the boat will be out of service TFN.
Update: House fire in 7300 block of 35th SW
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
1:42 AM: Right now fire crews are at the scene of a house-fire call in the 7300 block of 35th SW. Scanner traffic indicates it’s fairly small; it appears to be between an exterior deck and a wall, and most of the units that responded have been dismissed. 35th is closed at Webster, though.
2:05 AM: Christopher Boffoli is there for WSB. (A couple of TV crews have come over from downtown to check it out too; it’s been a quiet night citywide till this.) He reports a man and woman were inside when the fire broke out but got out OK; nobody is injured. They also brought out a pet bird but are trying to find their cat. Christopher reports the fire started in a “back corner of the house,” though the actual cause is still being determined.
We’ll check back with SFD later this morning to see what they found out about how it started.
11:16 AM: Lt. Sue Stangl in the SFD communications office says they haven’t received a report yet on the cause.
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