We start with two incidents at the Junction 7-11 in the past three days – the information in both cases is from police reports we obtained today:

STABBING: Police were called around 2:30 am today to check out a fight. On arrival, they found a man sitting outside the store, bleeding from his face. He said he didn’t know who had attacked him, and had no description to provide. A store employee told police he saw someone in a black hoodie kicking the victim, who was on the ground, but that’s all he would say. Seattle Fire arrived to check out the victim, who said he didn’t want to go to the hospital, but was eventually convinced to agree to go. The private-ambulance crew who subsequently arrived discovered that the victim had a stab wound in his armpit, and he was handed over to an SFD medic unit for transport. His wounds were described in the report as not life-threatening.

SHOPLIFT TURNS TO ‘ARMED ROBBERY’: Thanks to D for spotting this in Tweets by Beat. The call was classified as “armed robbery” but the report describes it as a case of shoplifting turned violent. Just before 11:30 Saturday night, a store employee called to report an attempted assault. He said a man and woman had come into the store, shoplifted, and when he tried to stop them from leaving with stolen items – including a toothbrush and aluminum foil – the man threw a large yellow “wet floor” cone at him, and it hit him in the head. The suspects are described in the report narrative only as a black male and white female, but the man was recorded on video during a visit to the store to make a purchase moments before the shoplifting attempt.

Also today:

STOLEN VAN FOUND: Last night, we heard a dispatcher broadcast an FYI about a stolen van, “taken in William sector,” which meant it was a West Seattle theft. We matched it to this tweet on SPD’s @getyourcarback Twitter feed and re-tweeted it, as we do if we happen to hear something identified as a West Seattle case. Then today, a reader e-mailed to note that a Puget Sound Energy van appeared to have been abandoned on an Arbor Heights street. The plate sounded familiar – turned out to be that same stolen van. The reader called police this afternoon, and we went by as SPD was checking it out:

The @getyourcarback feed includes vehicles reported stolen all over the city, but still, unfortunately, without any location info in the tweets (so we don’t know what’s from WS unless we hear a scanner mention) so that’s why we ask, if you’re hit by vehicle theft, please let us know so we can report it here.

Also today – very early today:

CAR PROWLING: Got a text around 2 am – “Just saw two males car prowling near Beach Dr SW and Douglas. In a small dark colored car with what sounds like glasspack muffler. Traveling south. We’ve called police.”

Meantime, other followups/updates:

DETRICK ARRESTED: As noted in comments, the day after we mentioned convicted burglar Jessica Detrick had a warrant out for her arrest, police found her Sunday and booked her into jail. She’s still there as of right now, in lieu of $15,000 bail.

STOLEN URN FOUND: Kayla tells us her friend’s stolen urn has been found, as have “some” of the ashes it held.

STOLEN VAN FOUND: And in case you missed the mention in comments, the distinctive van reported stolen last week has been recovered.

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TRAFFIC ALERT: Crash on SW Barton

February 21, 2017 5:31 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| Fauntleroy | West Seattle news | WS breaking news

5:31 PM: Thanks to Annie for the photos/tip: Traffic is alternating on one lane along SW Barton at 40th because of that crash. We just went by; SPD and SFD are there now.

5:40 PM: There’s no place on that side of the street to stop safely, so we weren’t able to ask anyone about injuries. But SFD has closed its part of the call now, and no medic unit was dispatched, which indicates that if anyone was hurt, it wasn’t serious.

8:21 PM: We weren’t able to check back but Annie tells us the scene is clear now, as of about an hour ago.

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From the ‘in case you noticed it too’ file: This afternoon’s flyover

February 21, 2017 4:02 pm

| 6 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

Unusual aircraft sightings – from helicopters to commercial jetliners – often bring questions, and we try to get answers. Twice today, here in Upper Fauntleroy, we noticed loud flyovers; both times, we looked them up on our favorite flight tracker, and they were commercial flights from Sea-Tac. The second one, an hour or so ago, brought in questions, so we asked Sea-Tac Airport spokesperson Perry Cooper if anything unusual was happening at the airport. Cooper had information about the most recent flyover (which showed on our tracker as a Delta flight to Shanghai) and we thought we’d share it in case you heard/saw it too:

We were, and have been, in south flow today; however, the tail winds for south flow were too strong at the time for this widebody aircraft and the pilot requested to take off to the north. So, for only this aircraft, the traffic was spaced out so he could take off to the north. Due to the fact the rest of the traffic was coming into south flow, they directed the aircraft to turn quickly to the west to get out of the traffic flow as soon as possible. This pattern would be similar to what we see when the Blue Angels practice in the summer, and they direct traffic to turn more quickly to the west in north flow to stay out of their practice pattern. Some of our own Port staff were out in the field today and noticed it when it happened as well.

P.S. One of the people who also noticed this points out that Sea-Tac has a noise-complaint hotline. Reversing it in web search, we discovered the Sea-Tac and Boeing Field numbers are part of a city-prepared one-sheet with info on all types of possible noise, not just aircraft – you might want to save it.

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FOLLOWUP: South Seattle College’s 13th Year Promise scholarships expanding to West Seattle High School, and more

February 21, 2017 3:26 pm

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| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

(WSB photo from September 2016, as the biggest-ever 13th Year Promise class started school at SSC)

You sip, they study.

Hours after Mayor Murray’s State of the City speech included news of the 13th Year Promise program expanding, in part with help from a new beverage tax, we have word from South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) that the expansion will include the long-anticipated addition of West Seattle High School students, and more. From SSC’s communications director Ty Swenson:

South Seattle College’s 13th Year Promise Scholarship, currently offering one year of tuition-free college to graduating seniors from three high schools, is set to expand to additional colleges and high schools thanks to support from Mayor Ed Murray and Seattle’s City Council.

The City of Seattle will invest $750,000 for 2017 and again in 2018 from the city’s general fund to help with operational costs to expand the existing program at South Seattle College, and replicate the program at Seattle Central College and North Seattle College.

On Feb. 21, Murray announced a plan to provide a separate, one-time $5 million investment to be placed in an endowment to help cover tuition costs for future 13th Year Scholars as the program expands to additional Seattle high schools. Murray said that funding would come from a two-cents per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, starting in 2018, which he will propose to City Council.

“The 13th Year Promise Scholarship started at SSC in 2008 with the generous support of our donors, and has made higher education a reality for hundreds of students, many of whom never thought they would attend college,” said South Seattle College President Gary Oertli. “With this amazing support from Mayor Murray, Seattle’s City Council and the donor community, a historic step is underway to eventually make higher education available to all of Seattle’s high school graduates.”

South Seattle College will expand their 13th Year program to include West Seattle High School, starting with WSHS’s 2018 graduating class (it is currently offered at Cleveland, Chief Sealth International and Rainier Beach high schools). Seattle Central and North Seattle colleges are currently evaluating which high schools they will expand to once the program infrastructure is in place. 13th Year staff from South will help the other colleges implement their own program.

“We are thrilled to be able offer the 13th Year Promise Scholarship to West Seattle High School’s Class of 2018 graduates,” said Oertli. “This expansion means we will finally able to provide one year of tuition-free college to every student from comprehensive high schools in South’s service area. It creates the opportunity for all to envision themselves as college students who will pursue careers grounded in passion.”

The 13th Year Promise Scholarship currently guarantees every graduate from participating high schools the opportunity to attend South Seattle College tuition-free for one year along with special support services to help them succeed. The program’s purpose is to increase access to higher education and improve success rates for our community’s students, particularly those from underrepresented groups (e.g. students of color, low-income students and first-generation college students).

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FOLLOWUP: West Seattle Helpline raising $ for new Clothesline location

February 21, 2017 2:33 pm

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| How to help | West Seattle news

Two weeks ago, West Seattle Helpline announced a new, larger location for its Clothesline clothing bank. Today, WSH is launching a donation drive to get the space in shape:

In the past 15 years, The Clothesline has provided clothing to more than 10,000 children and adults recovering from crisis or hardship. The success of this program has caused us to outgrow our current space, tucked away in a basement across the street from Hiawatha.

We’ll be moving into the first floor of a building just behind Hotwire Coffee in the Junction, formerly the location of the WS Christian Church Preschool. The new location is three times as large and will allow us to significantly increase the number of people we can help get comfortable clothing for school, work, or everyday life!

We need your help! We need to raise $17,000 by March 31st, 2017 for renovation, moving costs, and furnishings to make the new Clothesline a safe and welcoming space. Donations of any amount help!

-$50 buys toys and puzzles for the children’s play area
-$100 buys two clothing racks for professional attire
-$150 pays for a moving truck for a day
-$250 covers a month of volunteer supplies and snacks
-$500 provides a new coat of paint and carpet for a whole shopping section
-$1000 keeps the Clothesline running for 2 weeks, enough to get clothing to 120 families!

With your support, we can make the new Clothesline better than ever without taking any funding away from our other emergency services.

From all of us at the West Seattle Helpline, THANK YOU for being part of our generous and caring community!

If you can help, go here to donate.

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West Seattle development: Approvals for 3062 and 3070 SW Avalon Way, 3204 SW Holly

February 21, 2017 12:33 pm

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| Development | West Seattle news

From today’s city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin, land-use permit approvals for:

3062, 3070 SW AVALON WAY: We first reported a year ago about these townhouse projects planned for sites that were once part of proposed apartment developments. Each of the two sites is now planned to hold a four-story, 9-unit, seven-offstreet-parking-space development like this:

Here’s the notice for 3062 Avalon, and here’s the notice for 3070 Avalon. Under different ownership, a 100+-unit apartment building was once planned for 3062 Avalon; it stalled after one Design Review meeting in 2012. The sites currently hold a duplex and 6-unit apartment building, both built in the 1950s.

3204 SW HOLLY: This High Point parcel has four 3-story single-family houses planned, each with space “within the structure) for one vehicle. Here’s the notice.

WHAT’S NEXT: For all three of the projects mentioned above, today’s announcement opens an appeal period through March 7th. The notices linked above include both the full texts of the decisions and information on how to appeal.

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‘JUSTICE FOR ALL’: In 2017 State of the City speech, Mayor vows to ‘keep moving forward,’ with $55 million property tax for homelessness, beverage tax for education/youth

February 21, 2017 10:33 am

| 127 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

Mayor Murray has just concluded his annual State of the City speech, which made history, for starters, simply by the choice of location – Idris Mosque in North Seattle.

The speech concluded as does the Pledge of Allegiance: Vowing “justice for all.”

There were two West Seattle shoutouts – talking about the city’s vibrancy, he mentioned the “bustling evening sidewalks” of The Junction (scripted as “Alaska Way Junction”). And while talking about education and youth programs, he noted the expansion of the South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) 13th-Year Promise program, which offers a free first year of community college for students from certain high schools (in West Seattle, Chief Sealth International High School [added] and soon WSHS).

The big headlines from the speech will no doubt include the two new taxes Murray proposed:

-A $55 million property tax to double the annual spending on homelessness, likely to go to voters in August

-A two-cents-per-ounce tax on “sugar-sweetened beverages” to raise money for education/youth programs – here’s the city-provided infographic on that:

[More info here.]

The proposed property tax was far from everything he said about homelessness. Murray also announced he will be opening the city’s Emergency Operations Center to deal with what he described as the “homelessness disaster.” [More info here.] And he promised to “dramatically increase the clean-up of discarded debris on our sidewalks and streets.”

In his discussion of the HALA Mandatory Housing Affordability rezoning proposals, Murray echoed City Councilmember Rob Johnson‘s recent suggestion that opposing the upzoning is more in line with supporting the President’s policies: “We cannot be a city where people protest the exclusionary agenda coming from Washington, D.C., while at the same time keeping a zoning code in place that does not allow us to build the affordable housing we need.” [More info here.]

We’re adding a few more toplines shortly, and will add the video when it’s ready.

ADDED 3:34 PM: We’ve added some links above, identified with the phrase “more info here,” with additional details about some of the programs/initiatives the mayor anounced. Here’s another one: He announced “Our Best: Seattle’s Commitment to Young Black Men,” described as “the City of Seattle’s first ever initiative focusing specifically on improving life outcomes for young Black men.” [More info here.] He also talked about ongoing efforts to increase police accountability [more info here],

(back to original report) After the jump, the full text of the mayor’s speech, as sent by his office: Read More

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