By Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

The Alki Community Council gathered last week for their October meeting, to talk about upcoming events and neighborhood concerns, with a visit from Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison.

The meeting was held in “hybrid” format, with attendees in-person at Alki UCC as well as online via Zoom, and was facilitated by president Charlotte Starck:

Starck credited Kevin Kramer (the group’s new Board Chair of Operations) with facilitating the technology for the hybrid meeting, to make things run smoothly.  Starck thanked attendees for being there, noting the mix of neighbors, group leaders, business owners, city staff, and law enforcement (including two SPD community-service officers who were there in-person). 

SPD Officer German Barreto from the Southwest Precinct provided an update via Zoom. He said that for the Alki area, looking at the past month compared to 2023, there has been an increase in sexual assault reports, but everything else (including thefts) is down. He noted the previously reported drive-by shootings on Alki on July 29th, September 6th and 14th, as well as an earlier incident on the 2100 block of Harbor SW. He said it was good news that detectives were able to thoroughly investigate where appropriate. He reminded attendees that the precinct has a new leader, in Captain Krista Bair (who took the position in June). An attendee asked about the “boundaries” related to the crime stats, and how much of West Seattle is included in those. Baretto confirmed that for the stats he cites in each community group meeting he attends, he tries to use data relevant to that specific area of town — in the case of the Alki group, it’s basically the 98116 zip code.

SW Precinct Operations Lt. Nathan Shopay (also attending online) said that for the upcoming weekend, they would be conducting “an experiment” in which dedicated officers would be patrolling the Alki/Harbor area specifically during the “hot time” (9 pm and later) and “won’t be pulled off Alki to go anywhere else.”  He said that the precinct with gather data and findings from the experiment to help inform future patrol assignments. Several meeting attendees thanked Shopay for this, and one noted that “I walk on Alki multiple times a day, and have noticed an increased law enforcement presence every day. I really appreciate it!”

Next up were remarks from Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison, who attended in-person, and is in the third year of her term:

She had talked to the Alki group just over a year ago, and referenced that visit several times during her remarks (she had to cancel a follow-up visit in May 2024), and thanked attendees for being there and for getting involved. She said that it’s important for civic leaders to “be knowledgeable on a local level, where the rubber meets the road” and that the strives to “make myself accessible and take the ‘front desk’ on the road.”

Davison said she has a staff of more than 100 and is the only elected city attorney in Washington (most others in the state and across the country are appointed to their positions). She said that she takes that responsibility seriously as an elected official and an independent prosecutor. 

From the “civil side,” she cited her efforts in suing the carmakers as part of ongoing issues with Kia/Hyundai vehicles being easy targets for theft because the manufacturers “knowingly sold vehicles” that were prone to theft, thus “promoting criminal activity.” She said she was the first in the country to file suit, and now 16 other government entities across the US have joined in. “We want manufacturers to recall the cars and put in anti-theft technology,” she said, noting that such requirements were already being met in Canada and Europe but the carmakers declined to do it here. She said the suit is a “strategic move to help law enforcement partners, who are already too busy” and that customers have been losing their car insurance and a whole host of other problems. 

She also noted her office’s work with the $160mm Monsanto settlement announced in July, the highest for any municipality in the country, as being a major win for public health and the community. She also cited her work as part of an amicus brief for the Grants Pass v Johnson case dealing with urban homelessness, saying that she wants to “let local policy makers make their choices” for these difficult issues. 

From the “public safety side,” Davison said her office has made huge progress dealing with the backlog of roughly 5,000 criminal cases that she faced when taking the job three years ago. She said her office’s goal is to close new cases within five business days, and they’re currently at seven days “and should meet the goal within a week or two” — and that they’re “staying on top of things.”

She said that she’s a big advocate of “data transparency” and providing the public with lots of information. “It’s cutting edge,” she said, “and not what most prosecutors want to do.” She said this is crucial to help her and other leaders make informed decisions — “we don’t want it to be anecdotal” — and that everything gets published to her office’s website including annual and quarterly reports. 

Davison cited her partnership with the Seattle City Council in last month’s 8-1 council approval of the creation of Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA) areas, targeting drug-related criminal activity in key areas (such as parts of Belltown and the International District) and authorizing courts to prohibit someone from entering those areas if they commit a drug-related criminal offense in those zones. She said that she lives in the north end and has had hard conversations with her kids while driving through areas like north Aurora Ave. “Public areas need to be protected; the anti-drug zones should help,” she said, noting that October 23 (one month after passage) would be the effective date for the new law. After it goes into effect, “I’ll see what the referrals are like. I’m the second leg of the process; SPD is first, then I get referral and can act accordingly.”

Davison closed her remarks by saying she’s lived in the city since 1996, when she first started working for the Seattle Supersonics basketball team “the year we went to the NBA Finals!” and is proud to have gotten involved with public service. “I never thought I’d be doing this kind of work,” she said, but that she’s been drawn to taking action on behalf of the community, and doing her part. 

Some Q&A from attendees:

• Q: How about the legality of city surveillance video being used in cases? Davison: I’m not the decision maker; as a lawyer if it’s challenged then our lawyers would defend it.
• Q:  Regarding State Senate Bill 5444 (prohibiting firearms in certain areas), the bill didn’t include parks and playgrounds. Will your office seek to amend the bill to include them?  Davison: I would support that, but would only get involved if my office gets involved. I’m not totally familiar with the specifics of the bill, but my office can follow up if contacted. I’m very aware of the disparity in penalties (364 days for a gross misdemeanor, 90 days for misdemeanor).
• Q: What about jail capacity? We’ve reported things in the past but officers told us they couldn’t book for most crimes, meaning that officers would try to take them to jail and nothing would happen, leaving me and public saying “why should we call?”  Davison: As SPD has said, we definitely need you to continue calling 911 so they have that data to help inform staff levels.  Booking restrictions are getting lifted (as announced last month) and when officers have probable cause for arrest then they should be able to book them.  My office believes they shouldn’t have those restrictions.  
• Q: Does your office deal with financial crimes like wire fraud?  Davison: No, my office doesn’t. 
• Comment from neighbor Barb Richter regarding the Alki Point Healthy Street revision that was installed last June:  We’ve been happy with this, it’s resulted in a 76% reduction of 911 calls. Great example of city working with community to reduce crime in the area.  Davison: I’m very glad to hear that, but can’t really take credit. Anne I can only take small credit. It’s nice to hear these things. I recently attended an event with builders and realtors, and they say it’s a different sense right now because everyone is working together, unlike some years prior. My approach when we need to get something done is to ask “are you a problem solver” and to gravitate toward those people. 
• Q: What about jail time and enforcement of home monitoring, instead of giving constant reprieves to offenders?  Davison: My prosecutors make recommendations. I’m the first woman to hold this office (of the 10 people who have held it), I take domestic violence very seriously, if you’re a kid exposed to violence at home, then you’re much more likely to commit those crimes. My office’s role is to make recommendations to the judge, if the judge isn’t convinced then we can’t force them, but we certainly do what we can.

Davison thanked attendees for coming and departed for another commitment, and the group took a break for some raffles. Then, group vice president Lindsey Pearsall (attending via Zoom) talked with the group about a new idea that came out of discussions with the Alki Elementary PTA, regarding the creation of a partnership to display student artwork in local businesses. Such a program existed years ago, and they’d like to bring it back, ideally by the beginning of 2025. Attendees agreed that this was a great idea and they were “all in,” and Lindsey encouraged anyone interested in helping to contact her at lindsey@alkicommunitycouncil.org. 

Next, board member Robyn Fritz (the board’s Chair of Parks) encouraged attendees to do what they can to help Seattle Parks staff to keep the area beautiful and safe. She said she has lived on Alki since 1987, and is out every day walking her dog. She plans to create and manage an online list of projects (such as broken park benches, areas of overgrown or unhealthy greenery, etc) that people can contribute to, and she’ll take the lead on working with Parks staff to get things done. She encouraged neighbors to ask themselves: “What do we need to do to make Alki even better than it is?”

Attendee Steve Pumphrey, who is an organizer of an Alki/Harbor neighborhood group (focused on the three blocks around Don Armeni and Duwamish Head), then talked about safety issues relevant to that area. He said he lives across from the diagonal parking and boat launch, in the apartments on Harbor Ave. He said the area is a popular place for groups to meet and then go to Alki Beach and back. He said that his group was pleased to recently get a group from the city to come out and walk the area, and that the group included SPD leaders and someone from mayor’s office. He said they walked between the parking lot area and the boat launch, and talked about the problems, and were able to show the broken glass and tire-burn marks, and that he expects a status report from the group soon. Pumphrey encouraged attendees to attend the budget meeting on Nov 12^th at 5pm at the council offices city hall, at which Councilmember Rob Saka will propose speed-activated cameras and a study for addressing diagonal parking. “We need a big crowd to testify in favor of these things,” Pumphrey said.  He added that typically the signups open at 4pm and then the meeting starts at 5pm.  Robin Fritz noted that big crowds were on the beach recently for the northern lights, walking around, and Pumphrey said the area is always crowded but usually for no good reason. “Between 930-10pm it’s mostly people racing around; at 11pm it’s supposed to be ‘no parking’ but nobody pays attention to that.” 

The next portion of the meeting was a quick update from Sean Blackwell from the city’s CARE Department (Community Assisted Response and Engagement), who confirmed that the program plans to expand its number of Community Crisis Responders (CCRs) from 11 currently to 28 eventually, which will include an expansion into the South Precinct and into West Seattle’s Southwest Precinct in the first quarter of 2025.  He said the CCRs aim to support and complement police and fire responders, and to focus on crisis mitigation including connecting people to necessary services. 

The group then highlighted two upcoming events:

• Saturday Oct 26^th  Alki Beach trick-or-treating, from noon-2pm. This spans the business district along the beach, from 57th to 63rd. Info is online at alkitrickortreat.com. The Alki council will have booths near Ampersand Coffee with coffee and donuts.
• Saturday Nov 23^rd Alki Holiday Lights from 7-9pm (along with the Argosy Christmas Ships visit).  During the meeting, group member Stacy Bass-Walden (co-founder of Alki Pride, which just celebrated its 10th year) and other members turned off the overhead room lights and gave a preview of festive holiday lights, reminding everyone that the Christmas Ships visit is very early in the season this year (just one month from now! The ships will be at Don Armeni on Sat Nov 23rd from 5:35-5:55pm, and at Alki from 8:35-8:55pm; full schedule here).  Bass-Walden said that they want to bring back some of the “shore festivities” that accompanied the ships’ visits in past years, which have waned recently.  They’re getting local business involved and want to have cocoa and fun activities. This is a “trial event” to help set the stage for future years, and they plan to have a booth with a survey to gather feedback about what residents would want to have in future years — “we want to ‘glow-up’ Alki!” they said.  

Have you been impacted by power outages in West Seattle in recent years? If so, group member Wyatt Carlock wants to hear from you, he is a design intern for a startup called PwrOn whose mission is to improve residents’ experiences during power outages (particularly for refrigeration and internet service). He said that areas like Alki are susceptible to this.  If you’re interested in getting involved and sharing your experiences, contact him at: wyattcarlock@gmail.com.  

As the meeting came to an end, members noted that their annual election of officers will occur in next month’s meeting, and they’ll need to identify candidates and renew memberships. They’ll be doing their budget as well (yes, the group is a 5013c), and they’ve been talking with other neighborhood groups like Fauntleroy to get ideas. 

The Alki Community Council can be contacted at hello@alkicommunitycouncil.org. The group meets on the third Thursday of each month, with upcoming meetings as follows:

• Thu Nov 21 at 7pm – hybrid format, Zoom and onsite at Alki UCC
• December – No member meeting