day : 17/04/2012 10 results

First update from tonight’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting: Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Pierre Davis had wrapped up his crime-trends update without mentioning last month’s Beach Drive murder, but during open Q/A afterward, he was finally asked about the case. Still an active investigation, he said, adding that detectives are following up “specific leads,” though he had no details to share. Five weeks have now passed since 51-year-old Greggette Guy of Kent was found dead in the water south of Cormorant Cove Park, a half-mile south of where she had apparently left her car the night before to go for a waterfront walk; we checked with key figures in the case at the one=month mark (here’s our April 11th story). The case was a major reason acting Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams spoke to the group tonight; nothing revelatory in his remarks, but toplines and video are coming up in our full meeting report.

Update: 2 hurt in Highland Park crash, including King County Sheriff’s Office deputy

April 17, 2012 6:07 pm

| 46 COMMENTS

| Crime | Highland Park | West Seattle news

(Photo courtesy Doug, scene at Henderson)
6:07 PM: We’re at the scene of a crash in Highland Park at 15th and Henderson that is reported to have involved a police pursuit, apparently northbound from the White Center area, as King County Sheriff’s Office units are reported to be involved. More shortly.

(Scene at Trenton, where stolen car was found – this photo and next one by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
6:12 PM: Our crew at the scene has been told so far that a stolen car was being pursued and collided with the KCSO unit; the stolen car continued another block or so north to SW Trenton and was abandoned. Seattle Police are at that scene and have talked to a “person of interest” who is reported to have admitted being in the stolen car; officers are still looking for the driver and possibly one other person. We’re not sure yet about injuries.

6:39 PM UPDATE: Just past the damaged KCSO car, there’s a truck up on a lawn in the area but KCSO at the scene won’t comment on how it got there. SW Henderson is still blocked at the scene and according to Metro, that’s diverting Route 23 buses.

6:45 PM UPDATE: Kyle Moore from Seattle Fire says a 57-year-old woman, “not an officer,” was taken to the hospital by private ambulance with minor injuries.

7:50 PM UPDATE: We’ve now heard from KCSO spokesperson Sgt. Cindi West, who says it all started in White Center, when a “deputy spotted a stolen vehicle near SW 98 and 15 SW. The vehicle fled northbound. At 15th and Henderson the deputy’s car collided with a truck that was not involved in the pursuit. The deputy and the woman in the truck both had minor injuries. The 57 year old woman was taken to Harborview, the deputy went to Highline Hospital. The suspect vehicle continued northbound for a block or 2 and the suspects (2) fled. The female passenger was apprehended and we are still looking for the driver who is described as an Asian or Hispanic male, possibly in his teens. Our Major accident response unit is investigating the accident.” Here’s a wider view of the main scene:

9:10 PM UPDATE: The county investigators have finished their work at the scene and SW Henderson is open again. The stop sign on the northwest corner of 15th/Henderson was taken out, so a temporary one is in place for now.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Vandals damage P-Patch shed

April 17, 2012 5:39 pm

| 6 COMMENTS

| Crime | Delridge | West Seattle news

(Photo by Holli Margell)
A comment following Sunday’s report of burglaries at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center mentioned vandalism at Delridge P-Patch. We don’t know if it’s related, but we do know more about the P-Patch problems tonight, thanks to this firsthand report from Valerie:

The storage shed at the Delridge P-Patch (5078 25th Avenue SW, at 25th Ave SW and Puget Blvd SW) has been vandalized , with holes chopped into the walls from the outside and both doors badly damaged, twice in the past five days. So far nothing has been stolen, but both times the damage has required considerable effort to repair. Police reports have been filed for both attempts, but of course after the fact there’s not much to be done except make the repairs.

People garden here through the city’s P-Patch program, which not only provides individuals with a space to garden in the city, but P-Patches also donate a significant amount of fresh, organic produce to food banks around the area. All P-Patch maintenance and improvements are done on a volunteer basis by people who garden there, and it’s dispiriting to have to make repairs after pointless acts of vandalism.

We’d appreciate it if people would keep an eye out, and if anyone sees anything suspicious at the Delridge P-Patch, or any P-Patch, please report it to Seattle Police.

And if you see this before 7 pm, one more reminder that tonight is the monthly West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting at the Southwest Precinct (Delridge/Webster).

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Video: West Seattle’s only Neighborhood Service Center dedicated in its new shared home with SW Teen Life Center/Pool

April 17, 2012 2:47 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

Story by Tracy Record
Photos/video by Patrick Sand
West Seattle Blog co-publishers

Seven months after they came to West Seattle for an announcement including big changes for what was then the Southwest Community Center, City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw and Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams were back today to dedicate the result.

The reconfigured building at 2801 SW Thistle now is home to Southwest Teen Life Center as well as West Seattle’s only Neighborhood Service Center, newly relocated from Delridge, a move that was such a side note in last fall’s announcement, the Department of Neighborhoods didn’t even have a representative there. But today, DON director Bernie Matsuno was on hand too, and Bagshaw pronounced the end result “fantastic” – she’s one of the speakers in a short (11 minutes) round of speeches:

Those also on hand for the dedication were two of the three Neighborhood District Coordinators who are now based out of the SW offices, after moving from the shuttered Delridge site:

That’s Steve Louie on the left and Yun Pitre on the right (fellow coordinator Ed Pottharst wasn’t in), with, at center, Laurie Ames.

And in the top photo, Southwest Advisory Council president Tom Foley – who had fought for months to save the community center – helped cut the ribbon. The building continues to rent space to some private programs, such as EuropaKids International Preschool (WSB sponsors), whose young students sang for the visitors:

All of the changes are among the latest results of city budget cuts. The city is saving money by co-locating the NSC – where you can pay bills, renew passports, and find out about city services – and district coordinators in a building it owns.

Less than a year ago, it not only operated an NSC on Delridge, in privately owned space, it also paid rent for an NSC in The Junction (vacated last summer and not replaced). And in addition to repurposing SW Community Center as SW Teen Life Center, other centers around the city were organized into geographic zones with centralized staff – the High Point Community Center, where all this reorganizing was announced last September, is the hub of the West Seattle/South Park “geo.”

One facility in the SW building that hasn’t really changed is Southwest Pool, which reopened yesterday after a three-week maintenance closure. It’s part of today’s celebration too; we photographed assistant aquatic coordinator Matt Richardson before the day’s special free swims got started:

The next free swim is for teens, 3-4 pm, part of an afternoon of celebration detailed on the Parks Department’s Parkways website. And superintendent Williams will be back in West Seattle tonight; he is the scheduled guest at the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting tonight (7 pm, Southwest Precinct at Delridge/Webster)

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The WSBeat: Back from the ‘dead’; 2 am ‘test drive’; more

April 17, 2012 12:42 pm

| 22 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle police | WSBeat

By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog

As always, the WSBeat summaries are from reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers, incidents of note that (usually) have not already appeared here in breaking-news coverage or West Seattle Crime Watch reports, but that might at least answer the question “what WERE all those police doing on my block (whenever)?”:

*Medics declared a North Admiral resident dead after finding him in his apartment face down, without pulse. Per routine procedure, an officer was dispatched to survey the scene. Finding no signs of foul play, he lifted the victim’s arm and heard a sudden expulsion of air from the man’s mouth. The officer alerted the medics, who reiterated that not only had there been no pulse, but that rigor mortis had started to set in. But to placate the officer, they lifted the victim onto a nearby bed. As the cloth covering the “deceased’s” face slipped off, everyone was startled to see his eyes blinking rapidly. Medics quickly provided life-saving treatment and transported the man to the Harborview emergency room.

*Early Tuesday, officers pulled over a van in the 3200 block of Harbor Ave. SW. It had originally been spotted on Murray Ave. SW, and the occupants were thought to be casing the area. The driver, a Port Orchard resident, claimed he was in the middle of a pre-purchase 2 a.m. scenic test drive along Beach Drive. He refused to let officers search the vehicle, which was lined with racks and shelves and bags of items. A records check showed the driver was a convicted felon with an extensive criminal history (burglary, auto theft, theft, vehicle prowling and property damage) and that two women had active anti-harassment orders against him. He has been known to assault officers and to own illegal weapons, handguns, rifles, knives and grenades. He also had a history of substance abuse. His female passenger (who waved and called one of the officers by name) is also a convicted felon with a similar criminal history. There was a large knife at her feet. She had two warrants, one for misdemeanor assault in Burien ($7,500) and failure to appear on a theft charge ($5,050). Thinking that the van contained stolen property, the officers decided to impound it. The driver was released and walked away southbound on Harbor Ave. The woman was driven to Tukwila and transferred to the custody of the King County Sheriff’s Office.

10 more summaries ahead:Read More

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Got 2 hours? And muscles? Beautify West Seattle’s gateway!

April 17, 2012 12:06 pm

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| How to help | West Seattle news

West Seattle is THE most spectacular part of the city. We all know that! But if you drive in via the Fauntleroy end of the West Seattle Bridge, that’s not always apparent. Some aspects of the “gateway” stretch will take time to change – but the greenspace around the Walking On Logs sculptures (city webcam at right) only needs a few hours of your time, one or both of the next two Saturdays. Updating the plan for new landscaping in that area (as published here a week and a half ago) – thanks to a lot of volunteer work that’s already been done – Nancy Driver of the Walking On Logs Landscape Restoration Group is hoping a few more people will step forward to help, particularly this Saturday, for two hours between noon and 4, they need some muscle-power for the two-person “augurs” to be used to dig holes for new trees and shrubs going in a week later. She says “more volunteers to take out blackberries” are on the wish list too, particularly for this Saturday. Any shift you sign up for is only two hours – we know there’s a LOT going on this Saturday, but c’mon, you can fit it all in. Read more about the project here; e-mail ruth.hoover@comcast.net to get on the volunteer list – and know that thousands will see the result of your work every single day.

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West Seattleite Bill Schrier to retire as city Chief Tech Officer

April 17, 2012 10:13 am

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle online

Much of what we report on WSB includes, or originates from, information made available online by the city – the 911 log, the police-report map, DPD permit status/filings to list a few – and the city has put it all out there for the public under the leadership of its Chief Technology Officer, West Seattleite Bill Schrier. Now, the city sends word he’s leaving that job (one year after the City Council reconfirmed his appointment):

Mayor Mike McGinn today announced that Bill Schrier is retiring from City service as the city of Seattle’s chief technology officer after 30 years.

“Bill Schrier has been an effective and innovative leader in helping Seattle use technology to support our residents, our businesses, and an open government,” said Mayor McGinn. “Under his leadership Seattle has begun to connect more of our neighborhoods to high-speed fiber broadband, set national standards for accessing information online, and helped create and improve other innovative and effective ways to get the people of Seattle better engaged with their government.”

During Schrier’s tenure as chief technology officer and head of the Department of Information Technology (DoIT), the city of Seattle was named as the best large city government website in the nation by “Best of the Web” in 2001, 2006 and 2011. Schrier led the development of data.seattle.gov, an award-winning website that increases access to datasets generated by various departments of Seattle city government. DoIT also oversees the city’s television station, the Seattle Channel, which was named best municipal TV station for large cities in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010.

Schrier’s retirement from City service will be effective on May 2. Erin Devoto, deputy director of DoIT, will serve as acting chief technology officer until a permanent director is chosen.

According to his Twitter feed, Schrier is at a conference in Minnesota – but we’ll be asking for comment. Via Twitter, of course. (Where he just promised “more in a while.”)

ADDED EARLY WEDNESDAY: Retirement in this case does not mean actual “no more paid career” retirement; here’s where his new job is revealed – deputy director of the Center for Digital Government.

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West Seattle Tuesday: Dedication today; Crime Prevention Council tonight; tax deadline

April 17, 2012 9:51 am

| Comments Off on West Seattle Tuesday: Dedication today; Crime Prevention Council tonight; tax deadline

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

Some of today’s highlights from the WSB West Seattle Events calendar:

VIADUCT/99 PARTIAL CLOSURE OVERNIGHT TONIGHT: Again tonight, the state plans to close the **southbound** Alaskan Way Viaduct/99 as the reinforcement work, pre-tunnel construction, continues. 10 pm-5 am.

NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE CENTER DEDICATION AND CELEBRATION: Starting at 11:30 am, it’s celebration time at the newly reopened Southwest Pool/Teen Life Center/Neighborhood Service Center building at 2801 SW Thistle – including tours, Zumba, free swimming sessions, and more, starting after the official ribbon-cutting. It’s all detailed in the city’s announcement.

HEALTH AND HARVEST TOURS: Join in one of the Community Orchard of West Seattle‘s weekly tours, 2 pm (north side of South Seattle Community College campus, 6000 16th SW).

NATIVE PLANTS/BLOOMS WALK: Think you know Lincoln Park? Even the names of native plants and flowers you can see almost every step of the way this time of year? Take a walk with an expert – local naturalist Stewart Wechsler – and test your knowledge, or start learning. 5 pm; details on his website.

PARKS SUPERINTENDENT AT WEST SEATTLE CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL: Issues of safety and security at city parks arose after last month’s murder of Greggette Guy, believed to have happened at West Seattle’s waterfront Emma Schmitz Viewpoint. Tonight, acting Seattle Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams is the guest at the WS Crime Prevention Council‘s monthly meeting; Southwest Precinct police leadership also will be there as always to discuss the latest crime trends and answer community questions. 7 pm, SW Precinct meeting room (Delridge/Webster).

DELRIDGE SKATEPARK STORY: Not in West Seattle, but made in West Seattle – the Delridge Rec/Tech interns’ documentary about the 7-month-old skatepark and local skate culture will be showcased by the Northwest Film Forum tonight, 7 pm – map and more info here.

(added) 4TH “NEW BPP” ANNIVERSARY PARTY & WORLD RELEASE OF CRAIGALICIOUS BLACK LAGER! From Beveridge Place Pub, happening tonight at 7:

Manny, Roger, and the crew of Georgetown Brewing were here at the new location on Day One, and they’ll be back again! Along with their regular lineup, they’re bringing some super special brews just for YOU! How about the world release of Craigalicious Black Lager (served from a CLEAR keg!), a cask of Johnny Utah Session IPA, and bottles of Waldman Belgian Pale!

BELLY-DANCE SHOWCASE: The monthly Alauda belly-dancing showcase takes the stage at 7:30 pm tonight at Skylark Café and Club (3803 Delridge Way SW).

TRIVIA THAT ROCKS: 8 pm, Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), the weekly trivia event – with prizes! Next week, the Feedback celebrates its third birthday, and to preview the occasion, you can read their updated ruminations on what they’ve learned about running a bar – go here.

TAX DAY PROCRASTINATION? HERE’S WHERE YOU CAN GET A POSTMARK BY MIDNIGHT: No West Seattle post office, not even any Seattle post office, is postmarking till midnight tonight, but if you really find yourself in that last-last-minute bind, the Riverton branch north of Sea-Tac Airport will be doing it – here’s a map.

More on the calendar!

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West Seattle Bridge traffic alert: Truck testing on Delridge ramps

April 17, 2012 9:25 am

| 2 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

Just in from SDOT:

Engineers will conduct routine load tests today on the Delridge Way SW on- and off-ramps to the West Seattle high-level bridge to measure the effects of heavy trucks. Drivers may experience delays of 10 minutes at a time on three occasions between noon and 4 p.m. Also, drivers may be briefly delayed by traffic flaggers under the bridge on Delridge Way SW at times today until 6 p.m. Please plan ahead and allow extra time to reach your destination.

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West Seattle beauty: Sights above and beneath the sea

April 17, 2012 4:00 am

| 4 COMMENTS

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

Before we get going all-out with a brand-new day – and Tax Day, at that! – take a moment for two seagoing West Seattle sights shared by WSB’ers. First, John Hinkey‘s view of the Monday night sunset. Next, the latest undersea video from diver/photographer Laura James – who lets her camera linger on market-squid eggs on the seafloor near Seacrest: