Toplines from the Fauntleroy Community Association‘s board meeting online this past Tuesday:

CAR PROWL PREVENTION: Half the respondents in the recent FCA neighborhood-wide survey said they had been hit by car prowlers. So FCA’s been working on an initiative aimed at reducing this. They discovered it’s a nationwide problem and there’s no magic solution, but in collaboration with precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Jennifer Danner, they’re printing signs that can be left in the car to warn thieves it’s not worth their trouble – “there’s nothing to steal.” FCA will distribute these to the community. No date yet for when these signs will be available. FCA webmaster Bill Wellington suggested making the sign available for home printing via fauntleroy.net.

POLICE UPDATE: Sgt. David Terry of the Southwest Precinct said thefts remain the highest crime category in Fauntleroy, which otherwise is what he calls “the safest area” in the precinct’s jurisdiction: Ten thefts in all for the month of April. Traffic violations are the biggest problem, one attendee said, pointing to a crash the previous night at 45th/Wildwood as the latest example:

Sgt. Terry noted that the city’s Inspector General had recently suggested the police department stop doing traffic stops for “low-level” violations. He said the department is working to get funding for a DUI emphasis unit. He also mentioned that the precinct barely hits minimum staffing most nights, and on the weekend it’s required to have two people at Alki each night. He gave a staffing-level example: Monday night, the precinct started the night at the minimum of nine, and that had dropped to seven by midnight. He said there’s no bench to back up people who are out sick, or on other kinds of leave. He said that they are having trouble finding people to work overtime any more to fill spots to make minimum staffing – “they’re just burned out.” Also on Monday night, they had several lower-priority calls that were “on hold throughout the night” – they just had no one free to get to them.

One more crime note: The victim of the recent Fauntleroy carport arson was at the meeting. She said no one’s been arrested yet but an official investigation has been launched. A discussion ensued of best practices for preventing fire-setting; the victim said she had heard from other area residents who had experienced incidents. Perhaps a Seattle Fire rep could be invited to a future meeting to discuss prevention, it was suggested. (Since the precinct rep had left the meeting by that point, we followed up with precinct commander Capt. Kevin Grossman the next day to ask whether they were investigating this as part of an arson series; he said the Arson/Bomb Squad has a detective on the carport case but wasn’t aware of other incidents: “We don’t have any information at this time that suggests there is more than one arson in this area.”)

fERRIES: FCA’s Frank Immel mentioned the ferry-fares survey that’s open through tonight. The Community Advisory Group for the Fauntleroy terminal replacement is getting going. Regarding the Fauntleroy terminal-replacement project, for which planning has begun, the recent position letter from FCA (see it here) was mentioned. “We’re just trying to give (WSF) some boundaries” on what they’ve heard from the community. One newly appointed member of the Community Advisory Group, David McDaniel, was in attendance. FCA had received a reply from WSF’s leader, WSDOT assistant secretary Patty Rubstello, who said half the CAG membership is from Fauntleroy and elsewhere in West Seattle; the roster is expected to be made public June 23rd. In other ferry-related issues, there was some discussion of the need to direct traffic to the dock from the north, not from the south via Barton.

MEMBERSHIP/AWARENESS: FCA had a pop-up table during the recent “planter party” in Endolyne. The group is also putting labels on some area features that it’s funded/installed over the years.

MEETINGS IN PERSON? FCA is talking about where and when to resume these, and how to keep the videoconferencing/call-in option open too. “Hybrid” meetings can tend to marginalize the remote participants, it was noted. Maybe they could relaunch in-person meetings in a larger space, like one of the rooms at The Hall at Fauntleroy (their previous venue for board meetings was a small conference room in the schoolhouse), and people would feel safer, it was suggested.

MISSION STATEMENT: As the group moves toward wider communication with the community, an official mission statement might be helpful, it was suggested. A discussion of the group’s coverage area riffed off that too. For now, there’s a pre-existing “purpose” statement that will be used on the FCA website.

NEXT MEETING: The board meets most months on the second Tuesday, so that’s July 13th; watch fauntleroy.net for the registration link.