They’re among our area’s youngest philanthropists – students at Gatewood Elementary who’ve just made some big spending decisions. Teacher Darren Radu shared the photo, and tells us about the Philanthropy Roundtable:

Roundtable Reps have met weekly over the past couple of months to determine where to allocate a $1000 Penny Harvest grant. They’ve come together to survey community members about local, national, and international needs, research organizations, and eventually determine the organizations most worthy of support. One of the goals is to find those organizations that create the greatest positive impact for the least amount of dollars. Students were the key drivers of decisions, and had the final say in where the money went.

This year, the Roundtable came to consensus on donating to Kaboom! (building playgrounds in urban areas), Children’s Defense Fund (specifically with gun safety in mind), and Treehouse (providing foster kids with support to pursue their dreams). The kids were delighted to have this small but significant positive impact on their world!

(Photos by WSB’s Patrick Sand unless otherwise credited)
Even before we got to the big room with the big party last night at The Hall at Fauntleroy – Gatewood Elementary‘s annual Bids for Kids auction, whose organizers invited us to stop by – the sight above brought us to a full stop: A tree hung with old-fashioned rabbit’s-foot keychains, popular trinkets in the ’60s-’70s. Worked perfectly with the sign, given that the theme was Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, which also meant it was no surprise to spot more than a few hats in the crowd:

Also in keeping with the theme – this Cheshire Cat cake from the “dessert dash,” donated by Melinda Pond:

(Photo by Doug Branch)
Student-made artworks were among the auction items – as was this teacher/student (among others) collaboration:

The card with the puppet theater explained that the Team Lake Union kindergarteners of Nancy Carney and Charlene Higuchi worked on designs and sock puppets for the theater, which was built by Carney’s husband. Congratulations to everybody at Gatewood, including auction chair Ava Barnes and the numerous volunteers it takes to put on this kind of event. (Got a fundraiser coming up at YOUR school? Please let us know!)

Thanks to Gatewood Elementary parent Jennifer Dempsey for a peek inside the school, where the halls are decked in a theme that carries through to a big event Friday night:

The students, teachers, and staff of Gatewood Elementary are celebrating Alice in Wonderland week in preparation of the annual Bids for Kids auction this Friday. Under the fabulous direction of art teacher Rachel Moreau, each class not only created fun Alice-themed decor to decorate our hallways, but also produced an original piece of art to help raise money for our school. The students are dressing up as their favorite characters on the day that they have art class, and the class with the most participation will win a tea party.

P.S. Some of the art projects that will be auctioned off are shown in the photos.

Like these:

If you’re going – the full auction catalog can be previewed online.

A message for you from Gatewood Elementary students, forwarded on their behalf by teacher Darren Radu (who also shared the photo):

We are 4th grade students of Team Mt. Si at Gatewood Elementary. Our big goal is to have a positive effect on the systems in our world. We’ve been studying the electoral system and watching the election. Did you know that many people who can vote forget to or choose not to? Today we did some service to encourage people who think that it’s not important to vote. What happens in elections affects all of us because the people who are elected make big decisions and create our laws.

We walked from Gatewood to Morgan Junction while we were holding up our signs. We did a bunch of chants like, “when I say vote, you say ‘for America’!’. We chanted: “Vote! For America!” A lot of people honked and waved at us as we marched and chanted. People were interested in what we were doing. Many people told us that they already voted and we cheered for them.

We made signs and showed people that we kids care about the election. We can’t vote because we’re all little, but we’re encouraging our elders to vote. We think it’s a shame that not everybody votes who can. If we could vote, we definitely would!

We hope that you can help us spread the word about why voting is important.

Thanks!

The 4th Grade Students of Team Mt. Si
Gatewood Elementary

Our townhome complex has noticed increased suspicious behavior and crime in our neighborhood, so we are coming together to start a Block Watch. Join us for a kick-off meeting, where we can all meet each other and a Seattle Police Department Crime Prevention Coordinator will help us get organized and share crime prevention tips.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012
7:00-8:30 pm
Gatewood Elementary’s Lunchroom (4320 SW Myrtle St)

Being a part of the Block Watch will not require much work on your end – just a commitment to watching out for each other and reporting any suspicious activity. For more information, visit seattle.gov/police/blockwatch. Hope you can join us!

Your neighbors in the townhomes off California & Myrtle
c/o Kati Davich
Kati.Davich@gmail.com

Kati says the area they’re targeting is roughly “on California from Frontenac to Othello and on Myrtle from Fauntleroy,” but others in the vicinity are welcome too. (And to everyone who has or is forming a Block Watch – be sure to get involved with the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains Network, too!)

(Photo by Patrick Sand)
Police were still talking to people at the scene, so we don’t have official information on how it happened, but a vehicle went up the embankment at Fauntleroy and Myrtle and took out one of the signs that the Gatewood Elementary PTA announced last February.

(Photo by Nick Adams)
No injuries reported.

A major function of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce is to bring local businesses together so they know about and can potentially work with each other. Toward that end, the Chamber sponsors a monthly “After Hours” event, held at a different local business every time. Thursday night, Swedish Automotive (WSB sponsor) in Gatewood hosted visiting Chamber members; in our photo, that’s Chamber board chair Dave Montoure of West 5 at left, with Chamber staffer Terry Ahern and Swedish proprietor Dave Winters. Next week will mark two years since Swedish Automotive moved into its spacious, sustainability-focused location at 35th and Kenyon.

(WSB photo added Wednesday afternoon)
While FCA board members say they’re fine with the Seattle Police plan to install a fixed speed-monitoring/ticketing camera in the Gatewood Elementary school zone on Fauntleroy Way, they say the current southbound warning light needs to be moved. (That point also was made in comments on our Sunday night story about the forthcoming camera.) Ahead, the letter FCA is sending to the city:

It’s addressed to SPD Assistant Chief Paul McDonagh:

Gatewood Elementary is among the selected sites for fixed school zone installation of cameras. We do not disagree with location, but there is a problem with the current installation of the school beacon for the Fauntleroy Way southbound traffic. The beacon is located behind a telephone pole and around a curve. If the beacon were to be moved north of the curve it would be in the line of sight for some time before entering the school zone. As it is, the driver has to be aware that the beacon is coming up and that it may be active, or the driver will have to suddenly apply brakes.

If the goal is to slow the traffic down rather than to give out tickets, moving the beacon will go a long way toward this end. Please consider moving the beacon when you install the camera.

The letter is signed by FCA president Bruce Butterfield and cc’d to various city officials, elected and otherwise, along with the president of neighboring Morgan Community Association, Deb Barker. SPD’s project manager told WSB yesterday that the installation is expected within a few weeks, before school begins; speeders caught by the camera face $189 tickets.

This morning we woke up to find that my 2000 green Honda CRV had been stolen. It was parked outside our home in the 3900 block of SW Austin St. [map] SPD has been notified. It has an aftermarket spare tire on the back and a yellow KEXP sticker on the upper right side of the back window and a worn Rat City Rollergirls sticker on the left side of that same window. We would appreciate everyone keeping an eye out for it.

As of this writing it’s not yet on the SPD @getyourcarback Twitter feed but should eventually turn up there. (The latest tweets from that feed, by the way, are featured on the WSB Crime Watch page.)

The radar-based devices will issue tickets only when the school beacons are flashing (during school hours). Speed violators will be issued tickets with variable fines that will match the cost of a ticket that would otherwise be issued by an officer.

According to the report, the camera should be up and running before school starts September 5th; we’ll be checking this week on installation status.

The same document (which is dated June 11th) includes a status report on the city’s “speed van,” which was first shown off outside Gatewood almost four years ago (WSB coverage here). The report details multiple problems that plagued the van and forced its replacement last spring, while noting the new one is much simpler for officers to use, and had double the “capture rate” once it was deployed before last school year ended.

UPDATE, 4:44 PM MONDAY: Just talked with SPD’s program manager for this, who says, first of all, they have since updated the memo – the fines are not variable; they are fixed – $189. The camera will be on Fauntleroy, and will be installed sometime in the next few weeks.

From an anonymous Gatewood resident, who says this prowling incident happened around 8:15 am today:

White male, mid -30s, wearing black jacket dark jeans and a dark winter style hat with stripes. Carrying a messenger style bag and an orange bag. Seen going into backyard of neighbor’s house. When asked, claimed he was looking for yard work to do. Arrived on foot. Police called and man was at another house on the same block walking around the house. Was questioned and report made then released.

From Charles in Highland Park:

Just got off the bus on 16th Ave and Thistle – saw a kid, Hispanic or Asian, 5 ft 4 or 5 inches tall, white ball cap, brown pants and shirt, running away southbound on 16th after he was attempting to steal and/or break into my neighbor’s car, possibly mine as well, as the alarm was going off. A couple of neighbors saw it as well, called 911, reported it.

Tomorrow night, by the way, is the monthly West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting – your chance to hear firsthand from police, and WS neighbors, what’s happening. 7 pm, Southwest Precinct meeting room, off SW Webster just west of Delridge Way SW.

With the school year ending this Friday, the campaign is on to make sure kids keep reading during summer vacation – and Gatewood Elementary is busy today with a special way to encourage that: Principal Rhonda Claytor shared the photo and explains, “Students brought in gently used books from home during the month of May, and today we are having a school-wide book exchange to send students into the summer with some new reading materials. Happy summer reading, Gatewood Gators!” (P.S. The Seattle Public Library summer-reading program is now under way too – with info for all ages here.)

This afternoon I had a disturbing experience involving someone soliciting (casing) door-to-door. I live in Gatewood Gardens around 41st an SW Holly and was working from home today with my car visible in the driveway. At about 2:30-3:00 the doorbell rang, I looked through the peephole and didn’t recognize the person so called through the door that I don’t answer to strangers. I have a massive cedar slab front door and a pretty soft voice so I’m relatively sure that the person didn’t hear me. I looked through the peephole again and notice that he was flipping my doormat up with his shoe, I can only guess he was hoping to find a key.

It was an incredibly creepy feeling to actually watch someone deliberately seek out a way to gain access though I’m sure it’s standard operating procedure. The guy left the porch and went down the front walk, I went to my bedroom window and called out to him absolutely did not want to give the impression that there was no one home. He was somewhere between 5’ 10” – 6’, Caucasian, wearing khakis, a polo type shirt that was yellow or light orange and a red and black ball cap, brown hair and had startling blue eyes. He gave me a spiel about collecting for a charity benefitting Police Officers, and showed me a notebook with some flyers encased in plastic, he sounded very vague about what the purpose of the organization was or how the contributions were used. I told him I choose to give in other ways and he gave a deep sigh and went on his way. Due to the angle of the window I couldn’t see if he hit up any other houses but I know my next-door neighbors were also home.

This guy’s boldness was definitely troubling – I’m looking into other security measures though you would think the 900 ADT signs in the front and backyards would be some deterrent!

A reminder that if you think someone is suspicious, police would rather hear from you and – if they’re not on life-safety calls – confirm the person is not; we had a “casing?” report here recently that was verified by police as an actual solicitor, since they had already checked the guy out. Also one note re: Andrea’s account – police do recommend that even if you don’t want to answer the door, do make some noise to let the person know someone is home (such as, shout, SORRY, CAN’T COME TO THE DOOR), otherwise, if they ARE a burglar, you might find yourself face-to-face with them shortly.