By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

For the first time since May, the Admiral Neighborhood Association had a general gathering, with president Joanie Jacobs facilitating. Here’s what was discussed during last Tuesday’s meeting at Admiral Church:

AUTO THEFT DOWN & OTHER POLICE UPDATES: Officer German Barreto, the precinct’s community liaison, brought updates. Two crime categories have gone up in Admiral year to year – burglaries, aggravated assaults – and auto thefts are down. For shots-fired incidents, he mentioned the September 6 Alki shootout and an incident in the 2100 block of Harbor SW. One attendee asked for more context about the increase in aggravated assaults; Officer Barreto didn’t have specific incident info as to whether they were random or not. Another question was about the collision that injured a pedestrian at 42nd/Admiral; he had no updates on that. What’s behind the drop in auto theft? The increase was in no small part due to the Kia/Hyundai social-media-how-to trend, so the decrease seems to be because those models’ owners are figuring out how to thwart that, he said. What’s up with officer hiring? Barreto said, “I’m hearing we are getting people” but no specific stats. The nature of the work keeps evolving, he observed, and “about 90 percent is knowing how to talk to people.” How about the CARE responders? asked Jacobs. They’re supposed to go citywide at some point, Barreto noted. He also reminded people, regarding the other part of CARE, the 911 center – don’t EVER call the SPD non-emergency number. The 911 center operates differently now that it’s civilianized, he said, leading to “a problem” with police not getting dispatched to things they should be – “if there’s something that you see, and they try to send you to the non-emergency number, hang up and call back (on 911)” he said. And do call, it was stressed, to get everything on record. “And if you call 911 and don’t get the service you want to, email” to point that out. Also “be sure you get an event number or case number” when you call 911. Also, if you want to be contacted by an officer, you can ask for them to call you instead of coming to your door – though sometimes that might mean your phone rings a few hours later.

DEPARTMENT OF NEIGHBORHOODS: Rosa Garcia was a guest speaker. She’s this area’s community-engagement coordinator for the department, which she said is “going through a little bit of a transformation” – “we consider ourselves the nonprofit of the city, really approachable … community partnerships and investmennt partnerships” are how they divide what they do. The DoN programs include P-Patch gardens – more than 90 community gardens are around the city, originally funded for six years by the city and then they simply become parts of the community. She also talked about the funding the department offers for groups (official or not) to put on events – grants that the ANA (among many other groups) has received. The grant sizes range from Small Sparks up to $5,000 and Neighborhood Matching Fund up to $50,000. She also talked about community commissions and boards that are part of the DoN – such as one she’ll be facilitating that’s being revived, involving youth. Historic preservation is part of the department’s work too. Overall, Garcia said that DoN’s new director Jenifer Chao “is working hard to put us out there.” You can sign up for their newsletter and read their blog-format website Front Porch, too.

Now, the rundown on how the big summer events went, and what’s ahead:

(WSB photo, July 4)

4TH OF JULY KIDS’ PARADE (WSB coverage here): This year’s parade cost $2,700. Coordinator Megan Erb said it was one of the biggest ever (as we had reported, based on how long our “entire parade” video ran) – SFD estimated about 2,000 in the park at the end of the parade. They brought in new sponsors. Though it originally was the Admiral 4th of July Kids Parade, she stressed it’s a West Seattle-wide event. Four extra food vendors this year – besides JJ’s Super Dogs, Seattle Sorbets, lemonade, barbecue, tents with Admiral’s own Arthur’s and West Seattle Grounds. The big news: Erb is stepping down after 10 years of coordinating the parade, so ANA is looking for a new parade coordinator. “We don’t want to see it go away,” said Jacobs. They’re hoping to have someone on board by January. If you’ve ever wanted to coordinate an event that everyone loves, this is it!

(WSB photo, July 18)

CONCERT SERIES (WSB coverage here): Because of Hiawatha’s unavailability due to renovations, ANA took its outdoor-concert series to three different parks this year – “some that people didn’t even know were parks.” The Admiral Music in the Parks series cost ANA $7,400+. ANA secretary Meagan Loftin said that moving the venue brought people in who didn’t even know a concert was planned until they heard it. “We managed to pack more than 200 people into Belvidere Park and California Place Park, and over 500 people down at Hamilton (Viewpoint).” ANA’s communications director Dan Jacobs said cutting the series down to three concerts managed to fit it into a window that wasn’t too overwhelmingly busy and the rebranding was Loftin’s work. She did fundraising, got stickers, other support work. Dan Jacobs worked with city departments. He said, “The bands loved it, everybody loved it.” Joanie Jacobs added that they’d like to have a concert-series coordinator too (this was the first year without one, after Stephanie Jordan organized it for many years). Loftin said fundraising help is especially important.

(WSB photo, August 24)

ADMIRAL FUNKTION BLOCK PARTY (WSB coverage here): That was the costliest event of all – more than $9,000. Streets were closed, bands played, “it was an amazing, crazy day,” recalled Joanie Jacobs, also recounting how relieved they were when the rain stopped after early-morning showers. They had a core team of organizers and an indispensable crew of volunteers. They’ll do the festival again next year too, “and we’re always looking for people to volunteer and help lead it.”

Now, here’s what’s coming up:

THIS FALL & WINTER: Trick or Treating in Admiral Junction will be on Friday, October 25, 4-7 pm – “then working together with our businesses, a pub crawl for adults the next day” and some movies at Admiral Theater, a family-friendly movie one night and scarier adult movie the next – one venue also will have a costume contest. Trick or Treating needs volunteers too – like crossing guards … On December 14, they’re planning a “Winter Wonderland” day, with Santa pics, Santa pet photos, craft projects, hot-cocoa station, possibly carolers, “just a good-old-fashioned holiday event.” Volunteers welcome there too – both preparing for the event and on event day – they’ll be organizing an event for volunteer info. Watch connecttoadmiral.org.

DINE-OUT FUNDRAISER: October 1, an ANA benefit is happening at Mioposto (2139 California SW; WSB sponsor), 20 percent of the proceeds. Dine in, dine out, as long as takeout is ordered directly from Mioposto (no third-party services), 4 pm-9 pm.

SCHOOL CLOSURES: President Jacobs mentioned the SPS proposals including the possible closure of Lafayette Elementary and said they’l be sending a letter expressing opposition. “We stand with Lafayette Elementary … we want to reach out as a neighborhood association to let them know what an impact it would have on the community, on the businesses, on our streets.” Joe from the Lafayette was there to speak about it. He mentioned this website and also talked about the All Together for Seattle Schools approach (which led to this demonstration the day after the ANA meeting). Leaving the Lafayette building vacant would be “a horrible blight,” said one attendee. Joe said there was talk that Admiral Safeway‘s business could be in jeopardy if the school closed.

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION HUBS: Cindi Barker reminded everyne of the seminal events that led to the creation of hubs – the Nisqually earthquake in 2001 and the 2006 windstorm. And the need for neighborhood resiliency because it’ll be a long time before government responders can get out to help and neighbors will need central places to get info – “places where people could come and think together how to respond to the disaster.” Admiral was one of West Seattle’s seven original hubs, Barker noted. They’re looking for someone to be the hub point person in Admiral, as the previous hub captain has to give up those duties. There’s a memeting every other month, “deep dive learning” every other month, and a weekly email to read. “That’s it,it’s not very much.” After that, an attendee who identified herself as a former firefighter stepped up!

NEXT ANA MEETING: 7 pm Tuesday, November 12. Elections will be on the agenda, and people can step up for any and all positions – speak up ahead of time OR at that meeting.

BETWEEN MEETINGS: Keep an eye on connecttoadmiral.org (which in turn has links to ANA’s other online channels)