By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Fewer RVs and greenbelt campers. More traffic calming. “Partnership” with police.
That’s part of what Alki/Harbor Avenue-area residents listed as “accomplishments” when they met with city reps Wednesday night for the fourth time in their ongoing push against crime and street disorder in the West Seattle waterfront area. (Here’s our coverage of their meeting back in December)
But they say there’s work yet to be done. For one, they’re particularly concerned about the increase in gun violence, with the recent shooting deaths of Peyman Shojaei at Don Armeni Boat Ramp and Davonté Sanchez near Whale Tail Park. And they want the city to install signage reinforcing the no-parking hours of 11 pm-5 am. They also want to see traffic calming extended further north/westward toward the beach.
The meeting at Admiral Church was facilitated by Mike Gain (above), one of the leaders of the ad-hoc community group.
City reps in attendance included, above from left, Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Dorothy Kim (currently acting precinct captain), SDOT’s Bill LaBorde, Unified Care Team rep Tom Van Bronkhorst, Seattle Parks’ Andy Shaffer, and Deputy Mayor Greg Wong (who had to leave an hour into the meeting). The city delegation included other reps from the mayor’s office, SPD, Office of Economic Development, and Seattle Public Utilities.
Another of the community group’s leaders, Steve Pumphrey, showed photo and video examples of what he and his neighbors have been trying to get stopped, including waterfront parties with blasting music in the 3 am vicinity and drivers doing donuts and other stunts. (See his slide deck here.)
Wong told those gathered that he grew up nearby and praised them for organizing: “Showing up means you care about this city.” He insisted that public safety is a priority for Mayor Bruce Harrell and said the increased gun violence is in no small part because ‘we have way too many guns on the streets.” Homelessness is another top priority, Wong continued, saying that the number of encampments had been halved – 800 to 400 – and that the number of people accepting shelter referrals had doubled.
Rather than listen to speeches, Gain said, they wanted to give attendees ample opportunity to ask questions. So that’s where the meeting went from there. First one: With Alki now closing earlier, the rowdiness tends to migrate southeast – especially to the diagonal-parking viewpoint on Duwamish Head – so couldn’t the entire public waterfront stretch close early too? LaBorde said they’ve “looked at it” but they don’t necessarily have capacity for enforcement. Wong points out SPD should have 1,400-1,500 officers and it’s under 1,000. “We need more people we don’t have right now.”
To that point, the next person to take the mic said the mayor’s office does not appear to have enough urgency around police recruiting, having spent very little of what was budgeted for advertising and other means of finding candidates (as reported here and elsewhere). Plus, SPD has long been working without a contract. She wanted to know what the mayor’s office is doing about recruiting and negotiations.
Wong said a “complex set of factors” were involved. Regarding negotiations – he said he couldn’t comment on details but “do know they are ongoing; these things are often protracted.” Regarding recruitment – he said the city had to determine what’s the best place to market. He cited an example that “suburban East Coast towns are approaching New York City beat cops” to offer them jobs. He insisted that getting ads up is only one piece of the puzzle. “We could buy all kinds of ads, that doesn’t guarantee we’ll get more (officers).” He added that the city is looking at their own process – why do people drop out? That’s what they’ve been focused on – “trying to create a more streamlined process internally.” He said some good news in accelerating the time between hiring and deployment is that the State Legislature funded new training academies.
Next person opined that bursts of violent crime come from “car culture” – street racing, etc. – so they thought more traffic calming might equal less violence. Wong noted the speed humps and dividers that already have been installed – “those are the first steps.” LaBorde added: “We see a need for more traffic calming all over the city.” Lt. Kim said SPD works closely with the State Patrol’s street racing task force, and that social media is monitored to see if there are (West Seattle) aspects to be aware of – “we rely heavily on intel.” But, she said, since “we can’t pursue,” the best thing people could do would be to collect plate #s so cases could be built.
The next person stressed that while the traffic-calming features in place now are helping, by the time drivers get to the “straightaway,” it’s “pent-up demand (and) pedal to the metal” – she said she’d seen a reckless driver go around someone stopped for a family in a crosswalk and nearly hit the pedestrians.
Pumphrey at that point said they could start a petition for more traffic calming betwwen Anchor/Luna Park and the Alki business district.
The next questioner wondered why laws weren’t being enforced against people living on the street, considering that he himself had once been threatened with a fine if he didn’t remove a street-side basketball hoop. Wong said state court rulings prevent them from disturbing people who are living on the street if they have no shelter to offer them. Van Bronkhorst then recapped the city’s process for prioritizing encampments for removal, and engaging in outreach with the people who are living in them.
That led to another questioner noting that Harbor Avenue is currently being used by several RVs that follow the 72-hour law by moving every three days. But they shouldn’t be parking overnight, she said. Referring back to previous meetings, she recalled that they had requested an RPZ, but been turned down for that. She said they were offered “no parking” signage for overnight hours. So when, she asked, will they get it? LaBorde would only say, at first, “We’re working on it.” The point was pressed. Finally, Wong stepped in to say that the decision had not yet been made but, “We’ll have an answer back to you within two weeks.”
The neighbors’ “wish list” was brought up at that point, before Wong had to leave:
-Installing 11 pm to 5 am no parking signs on Harbor
-Curtailing park hours all the way down to Jack Block
-Changing entrance exit times and modes at Don Armeni
-Geofence shared scooters and bikes from being used 11 pm to 5 am
-Change diagonal Duwamish Head parking to parallel
-Hire police officers
A subsequent speaker added a request for another speed hump by a nearby condo building, and suggested security cameras. Another person spoke in favor of extending speed humps and other traffic calming further – she lives just past where Bonair meets Alki Avenue, for example. LaBorde mentioned the automated speed-enforcement camera expansion that the Legislature had authorized, and said the mayor’s considering how/whether to deploy that.
Overall, observed the next person at the mic, the process has been frustrating, though SPD “has been great … All these other things we’ve talked about, we talked about in December – you’re ‘looking’ at all these things but nothing ever happens. When you live 24 hours a day (near the problems), it gets really, really difficult.”
Alki should have priority as “the jewel – a destination place” for “so many people,” and if it did get priority attention, everything else would work out, was the next suggestion.
The meeting closed with discussion of a few specifics – Shaffer suggested he could get some “obstructions” installed in the Don Armeni parking area to thwart reckless drivers. LaBorde said they’re still reviewing whether they could convert the diagonal Duwamish Head parking without interfering with the “legitimate use (the area gets) during the day.” And, he said, as they consider extending the traffic-calming features, they need to see how the existing ones are working.
Gain concluded by thanking the ~45 people who had shown up: “Your asking the questions is what’s getting things done.”
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