West Seattle Blog…

West Seattle Crime Watch: Stolen car in Seaview; prowler patrol

Two reader reports to share this afternoon. First, from Kevin:

I’m writing to let you know that my 1996 Honda Accord was stolen off the street from in front of my house last night between midnight and 7 AM. I live in the 6000 block of 46th AVE SW between SW Graham and SW Raymond streets. It’s a four door Accord LX model. Maroon/Burgandy color. WA license plate 865 TZD. If you see it or have any information, please call the Seattle Police Dept.

(SPD suggests 911 if you see a stolen car.) Meantime, Jenni – who is a Block Watch captain in Highland Park – says they’re not taking car prowlers lightly in her neighborhood. This happened early Wednesday:

I went to check why my dog was barking& noted white male late 40s with graying facial hair trying to break into my neighbors SUV. I asked what he was doing and he fled via silver/gray 2 door sedan possibly ford no plate number obtained. I called 911 and some of our block watch went out on foot to patrol the surrounding streets. So, just another note about neighborhood block watch and calling police immediately.

She hasn’t heard whether an arrest was made, but notes that police arrived within five minutes of the 911 call. Meantime, Highland Park and other south West Seattle neighborhoods might be interested in this White Center event tonight: In case you missed the notice in our morning preview or on White Center Now, gang-activity trends, Metro Transit safety, and other topics are all on the agenda for the first in a series of Public Safety Forums presented by the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, all welcome, 7 pm tonight at North Highline Fire District headquarters (1243 SW 112th – here’s a map).

Car hits pedestrian at 8th/Roxbury; no major injuries

Thanks to Eric and Kristen, who both sent word of what looked like a car-bicycle crash at 8th and Roxbury (map) earlier this morning – but was instead a case of a pedestrian hit by a car, according to King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Cindi West. (It’s their jurisdiction because it happened on the county side of the Highland Park/White Center line, though as you can see in the photo, which Eric sent, Seattle Police helped out.) Sgt. West says the driver was southbound on 8th, getting ready to turn left (eastbound) onto Roxbury, and was apparently “blinded by the sun” when she hit a 67-year-old woman who was walking northbound across the street. She was driving very slowly, Sgt. West says, so the pedestrian suffered only “very minor injuries.” The bicycle seen on the ground by passersby belonged to a witness who stopped to help, NOT to the victim, according to Sgt. West.

Crews check out small fire reported in Highland Park home

Firefighters are working to find out what led to a fire call in Highland Park this past hour. The original call to a home in the 8100 block of 6th SW was “fire in a single-family residence,” but WSB contributor Deanie Schwarz says there were no flames, and crews were investigating the possibility it was a small fire in a fan.

West Seattle Crime Watch: Fire-station car break-ins

From Bob:

2 cars were broken into at Fire Station 11′s (16th Avenue SW & SW Holden Street) secured parking lot sometime late Friday night/early Saturday morning. Unnamed articles were taken and some were found across the alley. SPD was notified and a report was taken.

Helicopter over Highland Park

11:42 PM: Thanks for the e-mails/texts. We’re checking. (LATER: Sorry, the fire sidetracked the investigation into what this was about. We still have inquiries out, though, and whenever we get an answer, we’ll post it here.)

SUNDAY MORNING: Southwest Precinct Lt. Alan Williams told us they did NOT have Guardian One (the area’s only law-enforcement chopper, owned/operated by King County Sheriff’s Office, but assists other agencies) out on anything. Was it a KCSO case? No word yet.

Another holiday gift for Nickelsville: Volunteers’ visit

New haircuts to start the New Year. That’s part of what volunteers organized by Vietnamese Cultural Center director Lee Bui brought to the “Nickelsville” encampment in West Seattle today, along with donated food and clothing. Above, Renton hairstylist Van; below, Nga Ngo:

Volunteers promised they’d return, after a Thanksgiving visit with free flu shots as well as food (WSB coverage here). Here’s most of today’s group:

While there, we also found a second group of volunteers, who came to the encampment to offer a New Year’s Day barbecue:

What the New Year will bring for Nickelsville isn’t clear, as their status on this city-owned land remains tenuous. Though Mayor McGinn said after the encampment’s return last spring that he didn’t plan to evict them as his predecessor had three years earlier, the city also is not moving toward granting a request for utility hookups, as discussed at last month’s Highland Park Action Committee meeting (WSB coverage here).

Video: Highland Park’s 3rd annual ‘Not-So-Silent’ New Year’s Eve

Story and video by Randall G. Hauk
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

More than 90 participants of all ages kicked off tonight’s Highland Park New Year’s Blast (and Potluck!) by marching in the Not-So-Silent Night Parade.

Armed with assorted noise-making devices and papier-maché lanterns, children and adults set out from the Highland Park Improvement Club on a several-block march through the surrounding neighborhood, stopping traffic and bringing people out onto their front porches and yards to exchange shouted wishes for a “Happy New Year.”

Dan Mullins served as a sort of de-facto grand marshal of the procession, with tonight marking the third annual New Year’s Eve noise-making march, though he noted that the neighborhood has been gathering for community events on the last day of the year for 91 years.

Awaiting the group in the parking lot of the club afterward was another relatively new tradition for the holiday: the “Sage Comet.”

Former Cirque de Flambé member Chris Huson was joined by Rory Denovan in a fireball-twirling display, adding a bit of heat to the chilly evening air.

Wearing kilts as a nod to the tradition’s Scottish “Hogmanay” roots, the men spun flaming wire cages in large circles around them. Despite the name given the event, “Sage Comet,” it was bits of Christmas trees and rosemary set aflame by another Cirque alum, known only as “Tricky Bunny.”

Keeping with the family-orientation of the evening, Huson and Denovan were attended by their wives — Kristin Huson and Becca Fong –donning black robes and holding tall torches in front of the gathered crowd, lending an air of ritual to the proceedings.

Once the flames had burned out, revellers were invited back into the club for a potluck dinner and a night of live music from four bands, promising to carry the festivities securely into 2012.

With a solid attendance already on hand for the early part of the night, HPIC secretary Julie Schickling expected as many as 150 people might attend throughout the evening.

West Seattle New Year’s Eve: Highland Park parade & party return!

Once again this year, Highland Park Improvement Club invites West Seattle friends and neighbors to come welcome the new year exuberantly – starting with the third annual Not-So-Silent-Night noisemaking parade through the surrounding neighborhood. (Our video is from last year’s parade, in which we counted at least 60 participants of all ages.) Just received the parade/party invite from Woody:

There will be a New Year’s Eve Party at the Highland Park Improvement Club in West Seattle. It’s an open party: Everyone is invited! We’re asking for a $5/person donation at the door ($10 for families).

There will be live music with four great bands performing: Garrett and Westcott, Rory James and the Majestic, The River Rust and Oddly Even.

This will be an all ages show – starting with The Not So Silent Night Parade, the return of the Sage Comet, and then music. This is a “Bring Your Own Party” party: if you can come, bring food and drink –and the Highland Park Improvement Club will have a no-host bar, with wine and draft beer available for a small donation.

Location:
Highland Park Improvement Club
1116 SW Holden
Seattle, WA 98106

Here are some details:
6:15 Assemble in parking lot for parade
(part of the parking lot will be cordoned off for the Sage Comet performance. There is lots of street parking, especially a block north of HPIC if there is no more room in the parking lot.)
6:30 Not-So-Silent Night Parade
7:00 Sage Comet
7:15 Doors open for potluck/entry to party
8:00 Music begins
12:00 Midnight celebration.
Open jam after midnight – bring your voice and an instrument to join in.

We’re collecting more West Seattle/White Center New Year’s Eve info for the Holidays page – editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!

West Seattle Crime Watch: 3 in custody after burglary attempt – plus news of other arrests

3:47 PM: Thanks to everybody who called/e-mailed about a major police response in Highland Park, in the 16th/Trenton vicinity. It started with an attempted burglary, according to officers at the scene – including today’s tweetalong-ing Officer Scott Luckie, who hadn’t even gotten a chance to put the news on Twitter yet. Three people in custody, and one vehicle under investigation (in photo above). If/when we get more details, we’ll add them here. (added – one of Officer Luckie’s later tweets, with a photo)

Also via Twitter, the officer says two of the suspects were found in that vehicle, one “hiding in the bushes” at the targeted house.

ADDED 4:15 PM: Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen tells WSB the suspects in this case are “2 males, 1 female,” and are indeed suspects of which police were “aware.” Moments before we asked him about this case, he had sent this update on the overall burglary situation in West Seattle:

As I have stated previously, since Thanksgiving, the West Seattle community had experienced a significant increase in residential burglaries. The men and women of the Southwest Precinct have made apprehending the suspects in these crimes their major priority. Each time a suspicious circumstance call is dispatched, multiple officers have been dropping what they had been doing and rushing to the area.

In the past 3 weeks, we have identified 20 individuals as well as many vehicles. A number of these individuals have been committing burglaries in other Puget Sound communities. We have been collaborating with a number of police agencies who have experienced similar trends and suspects. Most if not all of the suspects are not from the West Seattle community. To date, we have arrested 8 in the past couple of weeks. Our residential burglaries have been reduced by half just within the past week. We will continue to locate and develop probable cause for the outstanding suspects.

Again, I would like to thank our West Seattle community for their assistance in reporting suspicious activity in their neighborhoods…Their observations and 911 reporting have had a tremendous impact in helping us apprehend these individuals which in return have made their neighborhoods safer.

City won’t boot, or provide utilities to, ‘Nickelsville,’ Highland Park Action Committee told

(September photo by Kevin McClintic)
Six months after its return to a city-owned site at West Marginal Way SW/Highland Park Way, the encampment that calls itself Nickelsville is in a sort of limbo – legal, and otherwise.

After the Highland Park Action Committee‘s meeting last night, following up on a discussion that began at its October meeting (as reported here), it seemed clear that the city does not currently intend to either:

*Evict the encampment
or
*Provide services (water/sewer/power hookups) that would make the site more habitable

You can watch the meeting yourself, if you’d like to see how it all played out:

Context for the meeting was a letter sent to the city by HPAC, as co-chairs Carolyn Stauffer and Billy Stauffer explained at the start of last night’s meeting. As the letter began, “In the past, our organization has been supportive of Nickelsville as a temporary situation. With news of this potentially becoming a permanent settlement, we have begun to hear a lot from our friends and neighbors.” HPAC says that the “burden of homelessness” should be shared with the rest of the city and suggests that this encampment, like others in the city, could switch sites every six months or so.

The issue drew a crowd to the meeting, including City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith, and Lisa Herbold from Councilmember Nick Licata‘s office. Click to read the rest of City won’t boot, or provide utilities to, ‘Nickelsville,’ Highland Park Action Committee told…

West Seattle Reservoir Park design resumes after $ snag solved

More money is being moved to the West Seattle Reservoir Park project, which is creating new park space adjacent to Westcrest Park in Highland Park after the formerly open-air WS Reservoir was covered (top photo). But that does NOT mean more features – in fact, it means fewer feature reductions than the project had been facing because of an expensive, unanticipated twist, and it means, as Parks’ senior capital-projects coordinator Virginia Hassinger puts it, they now can “get back going on the park design” since they figured out how to cover the costs for street improvements: Click to read the rest of West Seattle Reservoir Park design resumes after $ snag solved…

West Seattle coyotes: Another double sighting

From Kathleen just a short time ago:

It’s 9:43 pm and I just saw two adult coyotes go down Kenyon off 11th S.W. and then down the alley. All small animals better be inside!!! (Highland Park)

Note that they come out in the daytime too – the proof is in our ever-longer archive of coyote sightings (many with photos), which you can scroll through here.

ADDED 12:13 AM: More coyote news – Anna e-mailed to say, “My neighbor and I heard a group of coyotes howling at 9:45 pm tonight, Friday, coming from Schmitz Park. We live on 63rd SW & Beach Drive. I’ve never heard such a loud and long commotion like that before, it was very eerie.”

Highland Park Action Committee: From Nickelsville to coyotes

More than 30 people came to tonight’s Highland Park Action Committee meeting – a “full house and a full agenda,” as co-chair Carolyn Stauffer put it, starting with the encampment that is technically within HPAC’s coverage area, on a site once proposed for the potential city jail that HPAC fought ferociously three years ago. The 2-part Nickelsville discussion bookended the meeting:

NICKELSVILLE, PART 1: As the meeting began, four people from the encampment, including staffer Scott Morrow, presented an update to HPAC. They recapped its history and its rules, and its quirks – “we have one pet coordinator, which happens to be me,” said Mike Stahl, the longtime WSB Forums member who moved there shortly after Nickelsville returned to West Seattle in May. They hope to have a permanent encampment of about 350 people, they said, and discussed their “small, simple, sturdy structures,” built as possible. They hope to have kitchen, laundry, and office services on site – and they say they’ve been told the City Council will vote in March on whether they can stay permanently (the land is owned by SDOT).

Click to read the rest of Highland Park Action Committee: From Nickelsville to coyotes…

Reader reports: Puget Ridge break-in; Highland Park dog attack

Two incidents handled by local police in the past few days – a burglary and a dog attack in which both a child and another dog were bitten. Read on for reports from the victims in both cases: Click to read the rest of Reader reports: Puget Ridge break-in; Highland Park dog attack…

Tragedy on the sidelines during West Seattle soccer game

Here’s what we know about the major Seattle Fire medical response this morning to one of the fields at Riverview Playfield in Highland Park this morning: We went over to investigate after seeing two units rush by while we were blocks away at HP Improvement Club. Medics/firefighters ran onto the field with their equipment, and while we stayed far back, it was clear that CPR was being done. Neighbors told us a man had collapsed during a game. Games on that part of the field were called, and families left. Resuscitation efforts continued for some time; we had to move on, but have since learned from another witness that the Medical Examiner is there now, which indicates the man didn’t make it. We have asked West Seattle Soccer Club for any official information available, including the status of today’s games.

1:39 PM UPDATE: Commenter Doug says games at Riverview North are canceled for the rest of the day; we also received a text from a parent/nearby resident that her child’s 2 pm game was off. The man who died is reported to have been a coach.

3:34 PM UPDATE: We’ve received WSSC’s official statement:

We are deeply saddened by the tragedy that occurred during one of our Boys U8 soccer games this morning at Riverview Playfield. We treasure all of our volunteer coaches for their time and dedication to making sure our kids have a great season. Our thoughts and prayers are with the coach’s family and his team. The family will share more information with the West Seattle soccer community in the next few days.

West Seattle Soccer Club

6:52 PM: The coach’s wife called us. She just wanted to ask for your prayers.

MONDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: The King County Medical Examiner has publicly identified the volunteer soccer coach who died as 38-year-old Ed Kingston. We know his many, many friends and relatives around the area already know – including many of those who have posted comments – but it’s worth a note that in addition to being a husband and father of two, he also had a remarkable professional life. A colleague wrote about him over the weekend on this collaborative website; the link was posted on the Facebook page of the West Seattle Soccer Club, for which he was a volunteer coach, working with his 7-year-old’s team on Saturday when it happened. Dr. Kingston was a sports psychologist, and also wrote from time to time on the same website where the tribute appeared – you can see his work archived here. We have not yet received word of memorial plans.

Happening now: Food trucks’ debut in Highland Park

(SUNDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Added comment from HPIC re: how Saturday went)

12:22 PM SATURDAY: Shortly after 11 am, the first customers were already waiting outside the I Want Curry Now and Lumpia World food trucks in the Highland Park Improvement Club lot at 12th/Holden, launching what HPIC hopes will be a growing weekly tradition – maybe with more trucks joining on upcoming Saturdays. There’s seating!

These two are scheduled to be there today till 3 pm.

ADDED SUNDAY NIGHT: We asked HPIC for comment on how Round 1 went. Julie Schickling reported “a steady stream of customers. We ran into lots of people from the neighborhood, plus met people who were there because they follow one truck or another, or because they happened to be driving by. We were there at 3 when they were packing up, and both said that it was really good for a first day. Derrick from Lumpia World said he thinks it will grow into a pod with more trucks.” She’s still confirming the official plan for next Saturday. Julie also reports the Harvest Dinner on Saturday night “was a great success. … The turnout was what we had hoped for, lots of new faces, young families, new members, people who’ve discovered the club through our classes. People brought good food to share and also dinner plates to leave behind for HPIC’s community kitchen.”

Loved Mobile Chowdown? Tomorrow, 2 trucks in Highland Park

Last reminder … a restaurant-less section of eastern West Seattle will get some street-food love tomorrow: The Highland Park Improvement Club, shown in our photo (along with its sizable parking lot), will start playing host to food trucks on Saturdays, beginning tomorrow. It’s at 12th/Holden, just a few blocks east of where Zippy’s used to be. Lumpia World and Curry Now are scheduled for tomorrow, starting at 11 am and going till at least 3 pm, and HPIC is hoping to attract more as the Saturdays go by (Marination Mobile also continues its longtime weekly Saturday visit to 35th/Graham). Later on, you’re also invited to the Harvest Dinner at 6 pm tomorrow at HPIC – a potluck event (more details here).

West Seattle holidays: Highland Park bazaar seeking vendors

Yes, here in early October, it’s already time to think “holiday season” – at least, if you’re planning a major event. So the organizers of the popular annual holiday bazaar at Highland Park Elementary asked us to get the word out that they are ready to sign up vendors. Their event is set for 10 am-3 pm on December 10th, with a bake sale and big raffle (including donations from local businesses and bazaar vendors). If you’re interested in being part of it, e-mail highlandparkbazaar@hotmail.com (please do NOT contact the school directly).

West Seattle schools: Highland Park Elementary is on its feet

Today is International Walk to School Day – and among those celebrating this morning were Rachael Wright, David Bader, and a crowd of Highland Park Elementary students and parents. They had a special celebration before classes started, with food and prizes. Since it’s also Walk to School Month, you’ll see other events at other schools as October continues.

Food trucks in West Seattle: Highland Park to follow ‘Chowdown’

If you are a food-truck fan, you no doubt are counting down the days till Sunday, when the Mobile Chowdown will take over the heart of The Junction with more than 20 food trucks (listed here), 11 am-5 pm, all ages, no admission fee. Turns out that the Mobile Chowdown will be something of a preview for what the Highland Park Improvement Club hopes will be a weekly, growing food-truck gathering! On the following Saturday, October 8th, what you might call a new West Seattle node of food trucks will debut. You probably already know that Marination Mobile and Parfait Ice Cream, both of which will be at Mobile Chowdown, have been at 35th/Graham on Saturdays. Now, HPIC is inviting food trucks to use its spacious parking lot on Saturdays – and the first two official takers are Lumpia World and I Want Curry Now, both of which will also be at Mobile Chowdown this Sunday. So to review:

*Mobile Chowdown in The Junction this Sunday (October 2nd), 11 am-5 pm, California SW from Edmunds to Oregon, one-time event
*HPIC food-truck Saturdays start October 8th, 11 am-3 pm, 12th/Holden, recurring

P.S. On October 8th, you can make a day/night of it at HPIC – they are having a Harvest Dinner potluck that night at 6 pm, asking participants to “bring their own homemade food to share, plus a plate to leave behind, which will become part of the community kitchen we are building.” Cabaret and musical entertainment and a no-host bar. (If you’ve never been to HPIC, maybe this reference will help – a few blocks east of where Zippy’s used to be.)

Kona the dog, found! ‘That karma will last you a lifetime’

That’s Kona, a Husky/Lab who is home tonight, two weeks after she was reported lost (her photo has been on the WSB Pets page all that time). Kona’s family says an incredible outpouring of help in West Seattle this afternoon brought a joyful conclusion to their dog’s odyssey. Claire writes:

I wish everyone in the world could have been there today to see the amazing kindness of every person and dog in Westcrest Dog Park today. We got a call about 1:30 that Kona (the black husky lab female who has been missing since 9/12) was spotted in the dog park with an injured leg. We sped there from work and I think every person there, and especially a couple with an amazing Malamute, helped lead us to her in the woods.

She ran out right between my husband and I and he caught her in his arms–she was frantic and running from the voices–but when she realized who it was I think we were all crying. (Well, Kona and I were anyway!) THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for staying with her and making sure she was contained so we could get her home. We took her to the vet and she has a fractured foreleg, and will go into surgery tomorrow, but I don’t know if she could have been caught if she didn’t have the injury to slow her down.

If I could lasso the moon for all of you, I would. She means the world to my husband, 4 year old son, our other dog Ernie, and me. “Thank you” doesn’t begin to express the depth of my gratitude. Blessings on each of you, and that karma will last you a lifetime.

Nickelsville encampment marks 3rd anniversary Saturday

(Photos by Kevin McClintic)
Three years ago – on September 22, 2008 – we covered the sudden arrival of an encampment on a city-owned parcel in eastern West Seattle, calling itself “Nickelsville.” Days later, police were sent in to clear the site. After a subsequent odyssey through more than a dozen other sites, most of them not in West Seattle, the encampment – still calling itself “Nickelsville,” though the mayor’s office had a new occupant – returned to its original site this past May, and the current mayor decided to let the camp stay. For how long? The topic came up briefly at a recent City Council meeting, and the bottom line is that the city is still developing its policies regarding homeless encampments – so no change in the situation appears imminent.

So tomorrow (Saturday), Nickelsville is marking its third anniversary, and its residents welcome you to an open house/party from 3-5 pm, including roast pig that they’re putting on the rotisserie in a few hours. All are invited; they’ll also be cooking donated burgers and hot dogs. And they’re planning a Parade of Pets, so you are welcome to bring yours. More in this WSB Forums post. The encampment is on the northeastern corner of Highland Park Way/West Marginal Way SW.

Update: SWAT standoff over in Highland Park, 1 in custody

(Photos by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
12:32 PM: Thanks to multiple tipsters who say the SWAT team’s in the 7900 block of 18th SW and the road’s blocked off. We’re on the way. It started as a domestic dispute, according to SPD’s Officer Renee Witt, just before noon. They’re looking for someone accused of sending death threats to a relative via text message, and possibly also vandalizing the house with an ax, but Officer Witt says they don’t know if the suspect is in the house they’re responding to – the call came from a house nearby.

(Photos showing officers were added after incident ended)
1:03 PM: Adding photo of police blocking 18th SW down the street (since it is a SWAT situation, we are not publishing any images that would show the positions of the officers around the house). As is usual in potentially volatile situations like this, our crew is being kept fairly far back. We are also monitoring the scanner here at HQ.

2:02 PM: We’re back at the scene after a side trip to the Westwood apartment fire. The situation hasn’t changed much; police are talking with the suspect, who can be heard yelling. Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen was at the scene for a while. So was a TV helicopter that police asked to back off because of noise interference. We’re adding a few more photos.

2:16 PM: Police have gone in; suspect is reported to be in custody, and is being taken to the precinct.

2:48 PM: Added photo of suspect being cuffed – we’ve blurred his face; he’s in the tank top. He was last heard observing loudly that “20,000″ police cars were in the neighborhood.

Also about to be built: SW Cloverdale sidewalk in Highland Park

(“Before” photo from the city webpage for the sidewalk project)
A project announced in March, at a Highland Park Action Committee meeting is about to become reality: One block of new sidewalk, on the south side of SW Cloverdale, between 8th and 9th SW. SDOT‘s Doug Cox, who briefed HPAC six months ago, says today that work will start “in about two weeks.” The neighborhood has long been requesting this as a safety improvement for getting to nearby Westcrest Park, and now that more park space is being developed there in connection with the West Seattle Reservoir-covering project, $100,000 is being spent from the Bridging the Gap levy fund. Here’s the official construction-alert flyer (which says the work should be done by late October), and here’s an engineering document, for those who are interested in the most intricate details.

West Seattle Crime Watch: Anybody missing a safe?

Just out of the WSB inbox, from a West Seattleite who asked not to be identified:

At about 1 pm this afternoon there were at least two suspicious people pounding and trying to open a safe in North end of Riverview Park (the corner of Holly & 12th Ave SW). One of the men looked to be a Caucasian male. There were two vehicles, one gray X-Terra and the other looked to be a gray sedan. The police were called and before they got there (only a few minutes) the cars were gone. They did retrieve the safe, it was medium sized and gray. They asked if anyone has any information to please contact the Seattle Police Department.

The non-emergency number is 206-625-5011.

Update: Man shot on 11th SW in Highland Park

(More photos added 9:36 pm; this one was substituted for previous cameraphone pic)
7:44 PM: Police and fire units are at the scene of a reported shooting in the 9400 block of 11th SW in Highland Park (map). We have a crew on the way. According to WSB contributor Katie Meyer, scanner traffic says the victim is a 20-year-old man, gunshot wound to the back but “conscious and alert.” Early description of the vehicle they’re looking for is a “late model blue Pontiac” last seen going east on Cambridge.

8 PM UPDATE: The victim is being taken to Harborview Medical Center. WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand is at the scene and says Gang Unit officers are there helping investigate.

Neighbors say they heard four shots; officers/detectives are looking for casings among other evidence.

8:17 PM UPDATE: SPD Blotter has just published essentially the same info we’ve already reported – noting that it’s “preliminary and subject to change.”

8:28 PM UPDATE: SPD Capt. Neil Low just briefed media at the scene. The victim is described as in “serious condition” as he was transported. According to Capt. Low, the victim was standing outside a car, when another car went by and fired shots; the driver of that car discovered the street was a dead end, and made a U-turn to get away. The victim is believed to be from “nearby.” Though as we noted earlier, there’s Gang Unit members at the scene, they’re not confirming whether this is believed to be gang-related.

7:48 AM UPDATE: Police have added a few more details to that same item on SPD Blotter (linked above):

The victim sustained a single gunshot wound to his back, it was considered serious, but not life-threatening. Officers and Gang Unit detectives located one .40-caliber shell casing in the street and a bullet hole in a house in that block.

Highland Park spraypark: 3 design concepts unveiled

(UPDATED WEDNESDAY NIGHT with clearer images of the concepts, plus PDFs of graphics/info from the meeting)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Along the edge of the three-seasons-closed Highland Park wading pool, more than two dozen people gathered last night to get their first look at ideas for the spraypark that will replace it.

They also learned that the spraypark won’t be open next summer – because the scope of the project keeps expanding, so 2012 is now when it’ll be built, 2013 is when it’ll be open. (POST-MEETING UPDATE: The spraypark itself *will* be open for 2012; it’s the rest of the expanded project, such as building renovations, that wouldn’t be done till 2013.)

The big question the project team asked those who gathered in the park by the pool last night: Which of three proposed themes (see them full-size here) do you like, and what do you want to see around the spraypark – places to sit, places to hangout, art, etc.?

This will be West Seattle’s first and only spraypark, so it’s of potential interest to families all over the area, not just in Highland Park.

Click to read the rest of Highland Park spraypark: 3 design concepts unveiled…