Lincoln Park 4th of July patrol secret revealed & more @ Fauntleroy Community Association

Toplines from the Fauntleroy Community Association‘s board meeting last night at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse:

POLICE UPDATE, INCLUDING THE 4TH: Southwest Precinct operations commander Lt. Steve Strand started with an overall West Seattle update. He said summer emphasis patrols have included speeding vehicles (2- and 4-wheels) leaving the Fauntleroy ferry terminal early in the morning (5:30-ish). One board member said people leaving 4:50 am boat are the biggest offenders. (A later question asked about traffic problems related to ferry lines. Lt. Strand mentioned the state paying off-duty officers to direct traffic at the dock.) The 4th of July included more officers at Lincoln Park including a Gator utility vehicle with lights and a loudspeaker.

Officers used it to get onto trails and along the beach. Board members said they’d observed that fireworks use seemed lighter than in years past and reported hearing the officers’ loudspeaker alerts about closing the park. The Gator” actually belongs to the South Precinct but SW borrowed it and hopes to do so more in the future, using it in areas along Alki Avenue too. Crime trends overall are down locally and citywide. How successful have the Alki and South Park emphases been? No stats but anecdotally the results seem positive. Alki had an initial report, for example, of 36 tickets written in one stretch but only 1 of those was for noise. By the way, police are not immune to crime: Lt. Strand reported taking a break while doing some pressure-washing – and coming back to find his pressure washer had been stolen. An FCA board member reported that his vehicle’s gas tank was drilled and drained.

MICROCOMMUNITY POLICING PLAN: SW Precinct intern Taylor Lowry, from Seattle U, brought a mini-version of the microcommunity-policing-plan focus groups to the FCA board. The goal: Find out residents’ opinions and concerns about crime, safety, and policing. Questions included “How safe do you feel in your neighborhood?” “Very,” rippled around the room. That didn’t mean a total lack of concerns – car prowls were mentioned. Other issues that came up included some safety concerns that are recurrent topics of discussion at FCA meetings – pedestrian crossings along Lincoln Park and in the Endolyne business district, among others. Unauthorized camping in the park was mentioned, too.

What’s next? The Seattle U team that works each year with SPD is continuing to crunch 2018 data. Also they’re continuing to have focus group meetings in local neighborhoods with MCPPs – see that list here.

FAIR VOTE: This nonpartisan organization is “working to introduce ranked-choice voting to Washington state,” explained Robert Poore, who was invited to speak to the FCA board. RCV is explained here – board members didn’t ask for much of an explanation, but instead just launched directly into questions. Who else does it? he was asked. Maine uses it for federal elections, he said, as well as several cities around the country. His group is supporting a “local options” proposal that would allow local governments to try it if they choose; right now, state law requires “top two” statewide. The “local options” bill would allow local governments to choose not to have primaries, too. Why would it be a good idea? Among other reasons, Poore said, “it eliminates the spoiler effect” and “reduces negative campaigning.” Fair Vote has one paid staffer and is otherwise all-volunteer, funded mostly by grass-roots donations, Poore said. What’s the biggest argument made against it? “It’s complicated and expensive.” Neither is necessarily so, he said. What happened in the Legislature? “It made it through several committees” before stalling. He said most sponsors were Democrats; “we’re still working on getting some Republicans.”

FOOD TRUCK: FCA has continued to monitor reported plans for a food truck to use a newly graded pad outside the Joslin Building in the Endolyne area. El Camion is the truck, they have learned (we’ll be following up).

NEXT MEETING: The FCA board skips August – Night Out parties in early August are big community-building events – but will be back in session at 7 pm Tuesday, September 10th, in the conference room at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse. Watch fauntleroy.net for updates between meetings.

16 Replies to "Lincoln Park 4th of July patrol secret revealed & more @ Fauntleroy Community Association"

  • st July 10, 2019 (10:17 pm)

    I wish the officer directing traffic could watch for line cutters as well. Maybe he/she does but I have been told by a LT at WSP that law enforcement is mainly there for safety.  I have seen people cut and there’s no reaction by the officer. It is illegal to cut in a ferry line. Currently the only other way of enforcement is for someone to report the vehicle, then a letter gets sent to the house of the registered owner. This may not be the driver and even if it is, the recipient could just toss the letter or open it and still cut in line.. after all, only a letter is going to be sent. I wish there was more being done to crackdown on cutting in line. I have seen it happen when the line is back to the 76 station and beyond. People cut at the gaps by the south and north parking lots.

  • Nolan July 10, 2019 (10:43 pm)

    Since the topic came up, I have opinions on voting! Ranked-choice voting is absolutely better than first past the post, but it’s neither the best nor most practical alternative. There is a fantastic (and interactive!) exploration of different voting systems at https://ncase.me/ballot/; I’m inclined to agree with the author that score voting is the best approach from the perspective of practicality, simplicity, and “correctness”.

  • BrianD July 10, 2019 (10:50 pm)

    I go to work at about 5:35 A.M. and am “swarmed” by as many as 15 motorcycles coming off the boat.  I can be going 35 and they pass me like I am standing still!  Not just the cycles,  but also that meter maid type vehicle with all of the Seahawk decor.  A good way to deal with them would be to start loading them last on the other side, if you could get WS Ferries to cooperate.

    • St July 10, 2019 (11:51 pm)

      Yes Briand. I’ve read about getting swarmed as well as the noise from motorcycles and speeding for10 + years. Glad there was some enforcement recently. 

  • John July 11, 2019 (4:15 am)

    Welcome to the city. If you didnt come over on that ferry, you can complain. If you do come over on the ferry – take the bus or walk cause we dont need extra cars on this side. Swarmed with motorcycles? Get out of the way. Seattlites will ‘teach’ passive driving techniques to their own demise. Who cares if that guy passes you and goes faster than you arriving at whatever they are going to? You putz along in your Prius generating power by braking…trying to win toyotas  buillt  in game by braking so early you are stopping for a green light and then barely accelerating to the annoyance of other drivers who understand you need to  not inconvenience everyone else nor try to teach or get others penalised or have the state send a stupid letter. Get out of the way.!….To  the person complaining bout getting cut  off: take the bus after the ferry – leave the prius on vashon or better yet get a job near! your! home. Did you every actually miss a crossing because someone cut? I say its the price of needing a ferry to shuttle you back and forth in the first place. Vashon is either cheap to live on or so exclusive and pricey that maybe your police can ticket your neighbor who cut you off? without my tax dollars being wasted? Do it over on your side where you live. Its pathetic and ludicrous we pay double time for an off duty cop to help you drive into city traffic and then guide your catered to butt and Prius back home again at night. Please – you need some real problems in your life.   You be courteous like you want to enforce others to be. Others who dont live on little pastoral islands at great detriment to orcas and the environment because they want to embrace a secluded and priviledged   life.. you deserve  to  be cut off by your neighbors for not considering at all how you make our lives miserable… negotiating rural drivers idling to stay cool with ac next to our park and having a cop stop us so you can slow us down . 3 car lengths between you and the car in front of you forcing   me to miss a green light…the road has a capacity, i will cut you off everytime and leave you at the red light. Ps, blow your horn, it makes me care even less…i see it as a validation of the other drivers ineptitude and rude driving technique. Just sayin…i get to my destinations and dont really care much if you get to yours. I wont even know cause i dont monitor my rear view mirror to see lines of slow drivers flipping me off. But i bet you watch yours more than you look ahead. Braking to get a tailgater off your butt is eauay aggresive drivong. Go sliw if you want, but pull over and let the rest of us by. Im sick of crybaby self centered drivers who dont live in Seattle complaining about traffic here – its because of.you and bringing your horse and buggy island life driving ways into the bustling city. The ferry should be commercial vehicles only and all passengers walk on,  forced to use non personal car transport while over here. Eating granola at your home on vashon whike commuting 5 days a week in your car by a ferry to work is not saving the environments no making you an environmentalist. Thanks for letting me vent and educate.And seattilites: the bus is not clean fuel nor non polluting. The electricity is from coal…the bus just is not on our streets polluting – its out; in the country where the belching coal smoke is dumped into the sky. The hydrocarbons from when diesel articulated busses are empty driving their routes negate the gains of the packed am and pm trips by far.

    • Well Done July 11, 2019 (8:31 am)

      Quite possibly the greatest post in the history of the WSB. And right on point. Well done.  

    • Lura July 11, 2019 (10:36 am)

    • HS July 11, 2019 (11:09 am)

      I sure wish floo powder was real. Then I’d need a real fireplace tho…

    • Ron Swanson July 11, 2019 (11:10 am)

      This is an A+, 11/10 troll, except there’s no coal in Seattle City Light’s fuel mix.  

    • Lagartija Nick July 11, 2019 (12:30 pm)

      Well, alrighty then! There was nothing unhinged about that at all.

    • Yessss July 11, 2019 (4:46 pm)

      John, you are my hero. Thank you!

  • Blinkyjoe July 11, 2019 (8:34 am)

    Hitting the sherry early, John? Bet you’re tons of fun at parties. 

  • cn July 11, 2019 (8:50 am)

    Dear John: you call that “venting?” it’s just defensive opinionating, dude. That’s all it is. Also, as you decide everyone’s to-do list for the day, could you employ paragraphs? It would be so much easier to comply with your demands. 

  • St July 11, 2019 (12:01 pm)

    Hi John. Just so we’re clear I don’t live on Vashon nor to I drive a Prius. I am pro civility, obeying laws and being courteous to people in general no matter which city they live in. If people don’t follow the laws, they pay the consequences. 

  • artlore July 11, 2019 (12:22 pm)

    If John is referring to BrianD’s post, it sounds to me like Brian lives in West Seattle and the motorcycles come from Vashon (I hear them every morning). And along with using paragraphs, please check your punctuation and spelling!

  • Bradley July 11, 2019 (12:36 pm)

    John, I live in Arbor Heights and work on Vashon. I hope that irritates you as much as slow Prius drivers do.

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