West Seattle, Washington
29 Friday
This e-mailed photo solved a mini-mystery for us …
Someone texted us last weekend and said they were pleasantly surprised to have seen people picking up trash in Highland Park. They didn’t know who or why. Neither did we, and the busy pre-WSCGSD week proceeded without further word – until the photo above arrived with this explanation:
We thought we would share a little neighborhood news for Spring Cleaning inspiration. A group of us from the 9000 block of 12th and 13th cleaned up 10 bags of trash all along Henderson and south of Henderson on 11th, 12th and 13th Ave this past Sunday.
If other blocks want to join in, the city is holding their annual Spring Clean and
they will give you supplies and pick up the trash from your block. All info here.
We know at least one other West Seattle neighborhood has Spring Clean plans this weekend. Get yours going too! (And you’re welcome to send us a photo afterward so we can let your West Seattle neighbors know what a cool thing you did. From left in the pic above are Irene Davis, Blair Johnson, Sarah Rudinoff, Wendi Sargent, and Jessica Bomball.)
Just about six weeks left in the Seattle Public Schools year, and that means some PTAs/PTSAs are meeting soon for the last time until fall. Holly Briscoe tells us that the Highland Park Elementary PTA has its last meeting of the year tomorrow night – Monday (May 4th) – starting with a potluck dinner 5:30-6 pm, then continuing with business including electing next year’s board. All welcome. HPES is at 1012 SW Trenton.
West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports to share:
LUNA PARK TRUCK THEFT: Bob discovered this morning that someone had taken his white Chevy Blazer from what’s supposed to be a secure garage at City View Apartments in the Luna Park area. License plate 105YGD – call 911 if you see it.
STOLEN PLATES: From Andi:
This morning I discovered someone had swapped my back license plate on my car with someone else’s. I have reported them as stolen, so if anyone sees plates ASU6665 call the police. The ones they put on the car were ANK8876, and the officer said he recognized them from a call this morning. I live on Trenton & Delridge [map] if anyone saw anything.
This happens more often than you might think, so it’s always worth a quick glance at your plates every time you go out to your vehicle, if it’s parked outside.
POSSIBLE STOLEN BICYCLES: Two posts in the WSB Forums regarding bicycles –
**Vintage Puch bicycle found in a Westwood/Roxhill-area backyard
**Redline bicycle frame spotted in Admiral in unusual circumstances
HIGHLAND PARK MAIL THEFT: In the 9400 block of 10th SW (map), Fran A spotted several mailboxes open this morning, with mail littered on the street, including an envelope that was supposed to contain her husband’s new driver’s license.
Love wine? Love sidewalks? Love solar power? Support all of the above – and then some – by attending and/or sponsoring Highland Park Uncorked. It’s happening three weeks from tonight (Saturday, May 16th) at Highland Park Improvement Club. Here’s how it works:
Each person brings a bottle of their favorite wine, priced at $15 or less. You are assigned a table. The bottle is placed in a brown paper bag, given a number and eventually placed somewhere on your assigned table. You don’t worry about that, as you relax with the wines from the award-winning Northwest Wine Academy, mingle with your neighbors, and munch on a wonderful spread of food prepared by our talented gastronomes.
When the tasting starts, you will go to your assigned table and your table captain will walk you through the process. Everybody tastes the wines that each person at their table brought and end up voting for the best. The winning wine from your table progresses to the finals where they are all tasted and the top three are chosen. There is still lots of wine at your table to further “examine” and enjoy with your tablemates.
Raffles too, and something new – the “Wine Aroma Challenge“! Find more details about Highland Park Uncorked here. Oh, and about the sidewalks? HPIC is raising money not just to support its ongoing operations as a community hub and event venue, but also to help with grounds improvements for its almost-century-old site at 12th/Holden. It’s received grants and donations for raingardens, a cistern, a courtyard, and future solar panels – but it’s also (as explained and shown here) had to spend more than $15,000 to fix broken sections of sidewalk and to replace part of its roof. Every bit of fundraising helps, HPIC says. So:
*Want to be a sponsor? (WSB is signed up to co-sponsor again this year.) Go here.
*Just want to save a spot at the table? Go here – HP Uncorked has sold out in advance in previous years, so don’t gamble on just showing up at the door.
2:14 AM: Police, including a K-9 team, are searching right now in the Highland Park Elementary vicinity (and beyond). We don’t know what preceded the search but they’re looking for someone who has an arrest warrant on record.
2:49 AM: Sounds like it started with circumstances including a car, a report of a fight, and two people fleeing, including the car’s owner.
Jobseekers might be interested in this Wednesday’s monthly meeting of the Highland Park Action Committee. As just announced by HPAC:
We will be having a guest speaker talking about *Priority Hire* joining us for Wednesday’s HPAC meeting: The City of Seattle recently passed a Priority Hire ordinance which will improve access to construction employment and improve training programs for workers in need of family-wage jobs. The ordinance prioritizes the hiring of residents that live in economically distressed areas in Seattle and King County on city funded construction projects- and 98106 qualifies. See this website for more information.
Also on HPAC’s agenda, District 1 City Council candidate Chas Redmond. 6:30 pm potluck precedes the 7 pm meeting Wednesday (April 22nd) at Highland Park Improvement Club, 12th/Holden.
4:22 AM: Another sizable response to a crash scene – this time, one vehicle is reported to have hit a tree in the 9000 block of Henderson Place (map) in Highland Park, with two people reported to be trapped. Both are reported to be conscious.
5:04 AM: Just back from the scene. The response was upgraded to “heavy rescue” while we were en route – second one of the night in West Seattle. Firefighters cut the driver out of the car, a 22-year-old man who medics took to Harborview.
Two others were hurt but got themselves out of the car, according to SFD, and were taken to the hospital by private ambulance. The road will be closed both ways at the crash scene while the investigation proceeds.
6:30 AM: Henderson Place is still blocked off at the crash scene; use 9th SW instead.
3:17 PM: Police confirm they are investigating the possibility of DUI.
7:05 AM: Police and fire are headed for the 8100 block of 9th SW. The call is “assault with weapons”; the initial reports are that someone has a gunshot wound, possibly self-inflicted. We’re headed over to find out.
7:08 AM: Per scanner, most of the SFD units are being canceled, but they’re calling for a chaplain.
7:32 AM: Police cars were visible at the scene, but the officers were in the house and unavailable to talk to. A reminder in the meantime … the local 24-hour hotline from the Crisis Clinic: 206-461-3222.
Just found during our periodic check of open case files: A plea bargain in a crime that drew regional attention one afternoon last August, after an SUV was stolen from outside a Highland Park mini-mart with a baby in the back seat.
(8/27/14 photo by BETTINA HANSEN/THE SEATTLE TIMES, republished by permission)
25-year-old Estevan L. Sanchez pleaded guilty last week to auto theft and unlawful imprisonment – reduced from second-degree kidnapping – for stealing the vehicle from outside the Sea-Mart store at 16th and Holden last August 27th with a 10-month-old girl in the back seat. According to court documents from the plea bargain and from the original charges, the baby’s father ran into the store with the vehicle’s engine running, but the SUV was supposed to be locked and unable to be shifted out of “park.” Instead, Sanchez got in and drove it away even as the baby’s father ran out of the store and yelled for him to stop. 15 minutes later, the vehicle was found abandoned in White Center’s Greenbridge neighborhood, with the baby safe inside; Sanchez, a Highland Park resident, was found within the hour at 17th and Roxbury.
He already was wanted on warrants from a domestic-violence case in which he injured his girlfriend and her 11-year-old son, attacking her with a stun gun and knocking him down just before stealing her car.. As part of this plea agreement, Sanchez has pleaded guilty to reduced domestic-violence charges in that case too. In all, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is recommending 19.5 months in prison – a little over a year and a half – for Sanchez, who has been in jail for seven months since his August arrest. King County Superior Court Judge Monica Benton is scheduled to sentence him on April 17th. .
Dancing, drumming, and dinner were part of the festivities last night at Highland Park Elementary, as Native community members, family, and friends gathered for a Traditional Mini Pow Wow. We photographed Duwamish Tribe chair Cecile Hansen after the blessing she gave to open the event:
This was the second year of the event.
The group Niksokowaak – “all my children, all my relatives” – organized the Pow Wow.
4th-grade PE students had an audience at Highland Park Elementary School this morning.
Physical-education professionals are gathered in Seattle for the SHAPE (Society of Health and Physical Educators) America national convention this week, and today dozens of them visited several SPS campuses to check out unique programs, such as flag football that’s played at HPES as part of an NFL collaboration:
Teacher Kevin Schmidt leads this program at Highland Park.
What the kids showed off today are drills they do after their teacher explains the objective, as the students write it down:
Once they have grasped the goal, it’s on with the drill. Highland Park Elementary, by the way, was the only West Seattle stop for the visitors from the conference, and it was the first school they visited on their all-day citywide tour.
Crime trends, a possible solution, and a campaign pitch comprised most of this month’s Highland Park Action Committee meeting, Wednesday night at HP Improvement Club.
First, the crime trends, presented by Community Police Team Officer Erin Nicholson:
If you don’t have time for the clip, three notes:
Roundabout (above) or signal, to ease the traffic woes at Highland Park Way and Holden? Not that the city has money for either, yet, but the concepts have been roughed out and we were there as SDOT’s neighborhood-traffic guru Jim Curtin talked about them at this week’s Highland Park Action Committee meeting:
That’s historic Highland Park Improvement Club, honored along with two other local organizations, the Nature Consortium and Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition in the annual Sustainable Seattle Awards. The three organizations share this year’s “Transforming Spaces” award; HPIC has been adding sustainability features to its almost-a-century-old site at 12th/Holden, including “depaving” part of its parking lot, replacing it with a raingarden and permeable pavement. The Nature Consortium, also West Seattle-based, continues to restore the West Duwamish Greenbelt; and DRCC continues to advocate for the river running along much of West Seattle’s eastern edge to be restored and used as “A River for All.” DRCC founder BJ Cummings also was honored as this year’s Sustainable Hero. The full list of awards, announced at a Friday night event at MOHAI on South Lake Union, is here.
P.S. If you’ve never been to HPIC, it has big events ahead in the next few weeks including a Super Bowl tailgate potluck next Sunday and the WSB-presented District 1 First Look candidates’ forum on February 5th. Nature Consortium, meantime, has at least two volunteer events you can check out every week. And DRCC is currently focused on helping people learn about the EPA’s Record of Decision about cleaning the river, and what more can be done – check out two events coming up, including one in West Seattle.
In West Seattle Crime Watch – a police search right now in North Delridge. According to the scanner, a 911 caller reported a man with a handgun firing one shot into the air and then heading northbound in the alley between Delridge/25th, near the library. The description that’s being broadcast is black male, 14-15, 6′, thin, dark heavy jacket, dark pants. He was said to be in the company of someone described only as a black female in a purple sweatshirt. They might also be associated with a gold or green vehicle headed southbound. No injuries reported; police are checking for property damage. If you see anyone/anything possibly related, call 911.
(ADDED 3:06 PM: We were in the area around 2:30 pm checking on the search; no lights-flashing police still at the scene but cars were visible patroling several nearby blocks.)
(back to original report) Also in Crime Watch:
TWICE-STOLEN CAR: Amanda‘s car has been stolen for the second time in less than a month, sometime between midnight and 11 this morning. Gold 1994 Honda Accord, stolen from the 900 block of SW Holden. Let police know if you find it.
Sounds like a long time, but it’s not: We are now less than 3 weeks away from your first side-by-side look at the four (so far) people who want to be the first-ever Seattle District 1 City Councilmember, representing West Seattle and South Park. WSB is presenting the first announced candidates’ forum in this race:
Thursday, February 5, at Highland Park Improvement Club (1116 SW Holden)
Doors open 6:30 pm
Forum 7-8:30 pm
The candidates are (in first-name alphabetical order this time):
*Amanda Kay Helmick
*Chas Redmond
*George Capestany
*Tom Rasmussen
If you need to bookmark a reminder, here’s the official listing on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar (Facebook event page coming up soon too). HPIC has lots of room, and we’ll have refreshments, so have dinner and then come see and hear (and bring a question for!) the contenders for this area’s new seat on the City Council, which starting this year will be made up of seven people elected by district, two at large.
The almost-legendary Not-So-Silent-Night Parade (2010 WSB video above) is just the start of this year’s full night of New Year’s Eve festivities at the Highland Park Improvement Club. As announced by HPIC:
Highland Park Improvement Club hosts its annual New Year’s Eve celebration from 6 PM until 2015. This is a kid- and adult-friendly event where everyone gets to have a little fun and toast all that was good in 2014 and all that will be good in 2015. Festivities will begin at 6 PM sharp with the Not So Silent Night parade. Bring your pots, bring your pans, and make some noise! After, we will gather outside the club for the Sage Comet to light up the night before we dance the year away. The Dance Extravaganza will be hosted by DJ Doctor Lehl, who will administer to our needs, assisted by DJ Evan and Scott Rainier on live bass. Dress up or dress in costume. Keepsake photos by RL Carroll. It’s going to be a good year.
HPIC is at 12th/Holden.
4 PM: Ian reports an overnight car theft:
Just wanted to spread the word about my stolen vehicle this morning. It was reported to the police, wasn’t impounded. Vehicle is a dark blue, 1991 Honda Accord, License Plate #ABE3499. Last seen at the corner of 14th Ave SW and SW Kenyon Street at about 8:30 PM last night. Was stolen sometime between 8:30 PM last night and 7 AM this morning.
As advised by the SPD @GetYourCarBack Twitter feed, call 911 if you see it.
10 PM UPDATE: Ian confirms what Cynthia mentioned in comments – she found his car! He says, “It was found and is in good shape. It was found about two blocks away from where it was taken, around 13th and Elmgrove. No windows broken. I’m guessing that they must have had a key of some sort. They went through the glove box and the trunk but there was nothing of value in either of those. The audio deck wasn’t taken. It being a 1991 Accord makes it an easy target to a certain extent. I am lucky to have made a habit of leaving nothing of value in my car.”
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
10:04 PM: A fire call in the 7000 block of Highland Park Way SW has been upgraded to “fire in building” after starting at a less-serious designation. The address checks to Pioneer Industries, just uphill from West Marginal Way SW. We’re working to find out more.
10:09 PM: Via scanner, it’s being described as some kind of “industrial problem” inside the building that will have to be handled through the roof. Since it’s an industrial building, they’re trying to assess the risk before making further decisions how to deal with it.
10:32 PM: Highland Park Way hill is closed because of this, so it took us a bit to get here. It’s been described in radio communications as “overheated (equipment) with some roof char.” Light smoke in the building but no flames. No injuries reported. Some fire units are being cleared from the scene as this ramps down.
10:58 PM: Back from the scene (adding photos shortly) – our crew was told that the overheated equipment was a “heating element.” Ventilation of the building was the remaining task; in addition to doing that through the roof, SFD also had called in the MVU (mobile ventilation unit). Meantime, HP Way hill is reopening both ways, except for one downhill lane.
11:34 PM: All lanes reported open again.
Cool stocking-stuffer (or other mini-gift) ideas at the Highland Park Improvement Club holiday bazaar, happening right now inside HPIC at 12th/Holden. The map switchplates feature West Seattle neighborhoods as well as other towns/cities (not just the NW – we found one for Fairfield/Vacaville, Calif., whose radio station employed your editor here, long ago). Another table features buttons, mugs, and other local-logo creations:
Lots of other handmade items – including caramels!
Treat-wise, you’ll also find a bake sale. Then there’s jewelry, body-care and fragrance products, wearables … This is a one-day-only bazaar, so get there before 3 pm.
If you missed this week’s first meeting about the next round of Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund improvements in Highland Park – don’t worry, two more chances are ahead. The first round was the spraypark completed and opened last year; now, the nearby park space is the focus of a community-initiated project to address park access and play-equipment suitability, as outlined in the original proposal.
Seattle Parks landscape architect Pamela Alspaugh and planner Jeron Gates were at Highland Park Elementary School for the project’s first community meeting this past Wednesday night. Two major issues for the park are the age of its playground equipment – which dates back to the ’90s – and its noncompliance with the accessibility laws. Also a concern: Safety and crime prevention, with suggestions for more lighting and CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) features. Synergy with the school’s upgrade plans also was discussed; Highland Park Elementary parents are looking into grants, and it was suggested that play equipment for that project and this one be complementary rather than redundant. The Opportunity Fund project budget is $374,000 for design and construction, and it’s expected to be done in two years. A meeting early next year (no date yet) will bring a “schematic design” back to the community for review and discussion; then a “preferred design” will be presented in the spring.
Too busy a day for a calendar preview (please go directly to our calendar to browse everything that’s up) but there’s one spotlight event, as the Highland Park Action Committee reminds us:
*Highland Park Playground Public Meeting #1* will be held tonight, 6:30 to 7:45 p.m.at Highland Park Elementary School, 1012 SW Trenton St. An Opportunity Fund Grant was awarded to the park with the goals of improving access into the park, and making better connections to SW Thistle, 10th Ave SW, and SW Cloverdale so that it can evolve into an easily accessible node between Riverview and Westcrest. Participants can learn about this community-initiated project that will improve the access, usability, and safety of Highland Park. More information on their website.
(Added: City of Seattle photo by Jason Huff, republished with permission)
Thanks to Lola for pointing out the announcement on the city Arts and Culture Department‘s website – the kinetic artwork “Flyers” is now in place at the Westcrest Park expansion in Highland Park. More than four years have passed since artist David Boyer announced the concept (here’s our coverage from June 2010).
2:16 PM NOTE: The city seems to be having a bit of website trouble; the story’s 404ing but here’s the cached version.
WEDNESDAY NOTE: The original link is working again.
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