West Seattle, Washington
13 Tuesday
Last week’s open house was a full house at West Seattle’s STEM elementary school, in its first tour/open house season, as shown in that photo by Robin Graham from the K-5 STEM PTA. So in case we don’t get tomorrow’s daily preview out in time, just a reminder that the school is having a school tour at 10 am tomorrow (Friday), then 1 pm tours on February 11th and 19th – parents/guardians only. You’ll find them at 5950 Delridge Way SW.
8:39 PM: Just in from tonight’s second playoff game for West Seattle High School‘s girls-basketball team – they beat Holy Names, 33-28.
11:11 PM: Adding photos and toplines, both from WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand, who covered the game at Holy Names (which is on Capitol Hill). He reports that despite the final
score, West Seattle had as much as a 12-point lead at times in the second half; Holy Names got off to a slow start while the Wildcats had a tougher second half when trying to get the ball in the basket. Overall, West Seattle controlled the boards/rebounds better; Holy Names tried a tight press early on, but never turned the turnovers into points. The WSHS cheerleaders, by the way, came along tonight:
Your next chance to cheer for WSHS is Tuesday, and you won’t have to go far – the tournament will be at Chief Sealth International High School that night, and WSHS will play a TBD Kingco team, according to head coach Sonya Elliott.
One person just getting home e-mailed to ask what all the police in the 6000 block of Lanham were there for. Our crew has just come back, and here’s what they learned: The call went out about half an hour ago as an “assault with weapons” – there was a report of a possible stabbing, we’re told. Emergency responders at the scene deduced there had not been a stabbing and they didn’t think anyone had been hurt, but there was a suspected domestic-violence situation, and scanner traffic indicated a knife had been found. One fire unit was kept on scene for a while just in case, but the rest were dismissed. Police are continuing to investigate.
(Click image for full zoomable PDF version of new map)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
While Mayor McGinn has just announced that Seattle Police‘s Homeland Security-funded drone program has been scrapped (see his statement here), the work continues on the 30-camera network first reported by WSB a week and a half ago.
And one of his challengers in this fall’s election describes the system as “borderline problematic.”
More on that shortly.
First – We’re continuing to research the new fixed cameras that could be in operation as soon as next month in West Seattle and other areas of the city. This week, we have a new, clearer map of the 30 cameras’ planned locations – 12 of them in the West Seattle vicinity. The new map makes it easier to see where the ones not already in place are planned; for example, comparing a labeled map with this one, you’ll note one location is the Admiral Way Viewpoint, by SW Olga. We checked the site – no camera, but the southeast pole has loops of cable; in our interview last Friday with SPD Assistant Chief Paul McDonagh, who as Special Operations Bureau commander is in charge of this, he said that “about 9” of the 30 had been installed as of the time of our conversation.
As noted in our second report on January 31st, the $5 million grant that paid for the cameras was approved by the City Council in May of last year. A network of cameras was mentioned in passing during the briefing given pre-vote to the Public Safety, Technology, and Civil Rights Committee, but locations were not discussed, and it was described only as “port security,” with no mention that cameras would be installed in recreational/residential zones.
When we spoke with Assistant Chief McDonagh, he explained that a “steering committee” has yet to make the decisions about who will operate the cameras and which agencies will have access to their 24-hour video streams. He did say that in retrospect, he thought telling the commmunity in advance might not have been a bad idea; as we first reported on January 29th, the cameras were first noticed by WSB readers the preceding weekend, and we learned their purpose through two days of inquiring with various city agencies.
We have asked for comment from Mayor McGinn, and renewed the inquiry this afternoon following the no-drones announcement, but mayoral spokesperson Aaron Pickus e-mailed back, “We don’t have anything to add to what SPD has already discussed with you.”
Last night, we spoke with another mayoral candidate, Councilmember Tim Burgess – a former Seattle Police officer and former chair of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee – when he came to West Seattle to speak with the Southwest District Council.
“I think it’s borderline problematic,” Councilmember Burgess told us, saying that the original explanation of the cameras was that they were for port security and would be installed around Elliott Bay and port facilities, but now it’s been disclosed they have been installed “from Fauntleroy to Golden Gardens,” which he considers “not appropriate.”
He added that he thinks “the council should play a larger role here … maybe (it) should set stronger rules about the use of surveillance and technology that goes beyond what the original intent was.”
Assistant Chief McDonagh told us on Friday that he expected the Council would be briefed again; no date has yet been announced. There’s a target date of March 31st for activation of the camera system, but the aforementioned “steering committee” – whose membership list we have requested from SPD but not yet received – will make the final decision, he said.
ADDED 6:30 PM: Toward the end of The Stranger‘s coverage of the mayor’s no-drones decision today, the ACLU’s Doug Honig is quoted as saying they think the city needs to re-examine this camera system next.
Two food notes from West Seattle’s lone shopping mall:
PANDA EXPRESS? Checking the city building/remodeling permit files, we discovered that an application was filed today citing Panda Express as the company that’s remodeling the south side of what had been Hollywood Video, immediately south of Desert Sun Tanning. As you may know, it’s a nationwide Chinese food chain – nearest outlet is in Burien. We have a message out to Panda Express corporate HQ; we also checked with Westwood Village management, which tells us they’re waiting for a news release to be drafted before commenting on forthcoming tenants.
NATIONAL NOD FOR GIANNONI’S PIZZA: As noted in the WSB Forums – whose members declared it an informal taste-test winner almost five years ago – Westwood Village’s homegrown Giannoni’s Pizzeria has just gotten a prestigious message, on New York Magazine‘s food website. They listed 101 top pizza restaurants coast to coast, and included Giannoni’s!
Even one crime is too many … but as we watch trends, that screengrab of the SPD crime map, just showing auto-theft reports, is actually “good” news, relatively speaking. It represents seven auto thefts reported in the past week (the top marker represents three, the bottom marker represents two), a big drop from one week earlier. When we showed you the same screengrab nine days ago, 19 vehicle thefts had been reported in the preceding week.
We looked up the latest stats after getting a direct reader report of one theft that is among the seven on the map, and Justin is offering a reward:
I would like to let you know that I have a 26-foot U-Haul that was stolen from the corner of 38th and Genesee Tuesday morning. It was halfway full of furniture and personal belongings. It had an Arizona license plate number.
It was reported to the police on 2/5/13 @ 9:30 am. General offense # 13-040818. Officer Spadoni badge @1968 was responding on case. There is a $1000 reward for return of property.
From left, meet Tin Vo, Annalisa Ursino, Renee McMinn, and Megan Duong. They are four West Seattle High School students with one goal: As Megan explains, “We want more families to choose WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT BREAD as their main bread choice,” as a small step toward eating healthier food: “After doing a lot of research, I learned that whole grain wheat bread has so many health benefits that you can’t get through eating other foods.”
They also want to get more restaurant owners to offer whole-grain bread in menu items for kids, instead of defaulting to “enriched white bread,” which doesn’t compare nutritionally. So far – not much luck, Megan explains: “It can be a bit frustrating because we feel as though they aren’t taking us seriously since we are just a small group of teenagers.”
She has hope that getting the information out can make a difference in people’s choices – even kids and teens:
I recently took a survey, asking 10 teens around my age (15-18 years old) and 10 younger kids (6-11 years old) if they would rather eat white bread or whole grain wheat bread. Most of them said white bread, except for four of the ten teens that were surveyed. The four that said they would rather eat wheat bread already knew the health benefits. However, the rest of them who said they would rather eat white bread, claimed that it either tastes better, they were raised to eat white bread, or they didn’t know the difference. After I told them just one fact that simply switching from white to whole wheat bread can lower heart disease risk by 20 percent, according to research from the University of Washington … most were shocked.
After giving them this statistic, I asked them again if they would rather eat white bread or whole grain wheat bread, five of the six teens that first said they would rather white bread chose to eat whole grain wheat bread after finding out it was healthier. Seven of the ten kids who originally said they would rather eat white bread agreed to eat or at least try whole grain wheat bread. After doing this survey, I noticed that many teens and kids don’t know the difference between whole grain wheat and white bread. I think if we spread the fact that it is healthier to eat whole grain wheat bread, many kids would make the switch. If we get enough kids to eat more wheat bread, it could really open the doorway to making healthier choices at the dinner table.
Their project is part of competition for the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America “Star Events” and they’re making a presentation on Saturday, for the chance to move on to statewide competition.
They did get some support, from the Whole Grains Council: “They thought our idea was great and they agreed to send us 100 pins to give out at school and help promote choosing whole grains.”
And they have created this flyer for you to see – even, to share! (It includes contact info if you would like to reach the teens and offer support for their campaign.)
Concludes Megan: “Throughout this project, our ideas have been rejected by many restaurants; however, we are very determined and aren’t willing to give up! We are going to keep fighting to encourage families, children, and teens to live a healthier lifestyle. … we really want to make a difference, but we can’t do it alone.”
If you wondered what police and fire were doing at Harbor Island Marina this morning: A “water rescue” call went out around quarter past 7. The Fire Department had already cleared the scene by the time we got there, but police (as shown in our photo) were checking out a sailboat. From both SPD and SFD, we cobbled together these details: A woman fell into the water and needed help getting out. She was spotted, but would-be citizen rescuer(s) had trouble getting to her because of locked access to the docks. Kyle Moore from SFD says a “man in a small skiff rescued her out of the water and brought her to shore. When Engine Company 36 arrived, the female patient was being warmed up in the back of an SPD car. Firefighters conducted a medical evaluation. AMR transported her to (Harborview Medical Center) as a precaution due to spending approximately 20 minutes in the water.”
(California sea lion, photographed from the Water Taxi yesterday by Mike Steen)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar for today:
PARKS AND NEIGHBORHOODS COMMITTEE: just getting under way (watch live at seattlechannel.org), the City Council’s Parks and Neighborhoods Committee meets, with the longterm lease for Marination ma kai (WSB sponsor) at Seacrest part of the agenda, along with the superintendent’s briefing including the artwork we showed here last night.
HIGH-SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE: Chief Sealth’s big event for prospective students/families is tonight, 6-8 pm. More details here.
KINDERGARTEN OPEN HOUSE: It’s also open-house night at Arbor Heights Elementary, 37th and 104th, 6-7 pm, for prospective kindergarten families. Details in the calendar listing.
AND ANOTHER OPEN HOUSE: This one’s at Shorewood Christian School (10300 28th SW), 6:30 pm.
(added) AND EVEN *MORE* SCHOOL OPEN HOUSES: Thanks to the commenters who let us know that Alki Elementary and Gatewood Elementary both have open houses tonight too, both at 6:30 pm.
FOOD BANK OPEN HOUSE: The West Seattle Food Bank invites community members to stop by, tour the food bank, find out how it works and how to help. 5-7 pm; southeast corner of 35th and Morgan. Also a West Seattle Chamber of Commerce “After Hours” event.
BASKETBALL POSTSEASON: West Seattle High School‘s girls-varsity basketball team plays tonight at Holy Names, 7 pm.
NORTH HIGHLINE PUBLIC-SAFETY FORUM: If you’re in the unincorporated area – or near the city limits – you might be interested in tonight’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council public-safety forum, 7 pm at Greenbridge’s Boys and Girls Club (9800 8th SW).
COMEDY OPEN MIKE: Topping the nightlife lineup for tonight, the Benbow Room‘s twice-monthly open-mike comedy night. Signups at 8:30; comedy starts at 9.
MORE … on the calendar!
(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; see other cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
Another routine start to the day’s commute …
If you use Metro, take note that the service-change information for February 16th is now public, as reported here on Wednesday. And yet another reminder: Friday night till Monday morning, the Delridge/Henderson intersection closes all weekend so it can be repaved.
8:49 AM: As noted in comments, trouble on eastbound Spokane Street (surface) – believed to be a “stuck train.” There are no traffic alerts regarding trains so eyewitness info is all we will get on that.
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