By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Another neighborhood organization launched for the new year last night – this time the Morgan Community Association, with its first quarterly hybrid meeting of 2025, held at Westside Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Gatewood and online, facilitated by MoCA president Deb Barker.
CRIME/SAFETY: The meeting began with crime/police information. Southwest Precinct Officer German Barreto, attending online, brought year-end data for the Morgan Junction area: Sexual assaults were up (3 last year, 1 the year before), gunfire unchanged (3 each year), aggravated assaults were down (14 last year from 19 in 2023), robberies were unchanged (10 each year), burglaries were down (62 in 2023, 52 in 2024), motor vehicle thefts were down (185 in 2023 to 120 in 2024). Officer Barreto noted that they’re not able to access “last 30 days” stats any more, just “year to year.” One attendee asked about the recent 35th and Barton gunfire (though outside the Morgan Junction boundaries) – how can people keep the community safer? “Stay vigilant,” advised Officer Barreto. “I will look at people to be sure they see me,” in other words, don’t be oblivious to your surroundings, glued to your phone, etc. Side note, he added that if you have trouble with 911 – or a good experience for that matter – let CARE_info@seattle.gov know, he added. And please do file online reports of even seemingly minor crimes like car break-ins with nothing taken. Question: Have they made any arrests for drug use? He mentioned the operation that targeted the former RV encampment by Westwood Village, with more than half a dozen arrests. Another question: Any progress in solving the High Point shooting death of Sudaysi Ida and preventing more violence? “We are monitoring the area,” and Gun Violence Reduction Unit detectives are too, Barreto said.
A first-time attendee wondered about the point of the briefing. He said that some of the stats were such low rates, it would be interesting to compare to other neighborhoods. (You can do that via SPD’s online dashboard.)
The owner of the Zeeks Pizza/Whisky West building at Fauntleroy/Californis said he’d done a walk with crime-prevention coordinator Jennifer Satterwhite to identify ways to increase safety – and among other things, a streetlight is now working. Meantime, Barreto also mentioned what Satterwhite had told the Fauntleroy Community Association the previous evening (WSB coverage here) – that there are two new officers at the Southwest Precinct.
VEHICLE CHARGING LOT: The project at 42nd/Morgan/Fauntleroy is still a work in progress. Barker said City Light will send a rep to the April meeting for a detailed update, and then read aloud what SCL had told her via email: “Our goal is to be energized by 4th quarter of 2025, The project has faced various challenges” – one supplier went out of business, others had yearlong lead times, contracting delays … but they’re finalizing the plan after some “design changes” and it’s about to go out to bid – find updates online here.
MORGAN JUNCTION PARK ADDITION PROJECT: The excavation hole for the contaminated soil was bigger than originally planned and that required more permit review – a situation which hasn’t changed in 3 months, Barker said, adding that a new planner has been assigned to the project by Parks. Meantime, SDOT has not issued the permit for filling its part of the hole. MoCA board member Michael Brunner observed the project is nearing its 10th anniversary.
MOCA FUND: MoCA attendees voted to approve the group’s request to use $8,000 of $13,750 that it has left over from a $25,000 gift of sorts (explained here) a decade ago. The money would be used to cover the organization’s operational costs, which include Zoom, web hosting, city/state fees, insurance, about $1,400/year total; they also have some expenses for running the Morgan Community Festival each summer. The grant application was approved unanimously.
MORGAN COMMUNITY FESTIVAL: Picking a date for this cozy little festival was the subject of another vote. June 14, 2025, was chosen as the date for the next edition of this one-day festival at Morgan Junction Park and behind the adjacent commercial building (whose owner was in attendance).
SCHOOL FUNDING AND ‘BILLION-DOLLAR BAKE SALE’: Megan from the Gatewood Elementary PTA talked about a statewide advocacy campany they started called the Billion Dollar Bake Sale, with a big advocacy day two weeks from tomorrow. The amount of Seattle Public Schools‘ budget deficit is equal to the amount by which the state is underfunding its special ed – so that might account for the entirety of the local deficit, she noted. Legislators were pollled and ranked education 8th or lower on their priority list – despite “paramount duty” being written into the state Constitution. “We’re trying to get as many bodies down to Olympia as possible on January 30,” gathering at the Tivoli Fountain. They’re already expecting more than 500 people, including students on field trips (Gatewood 5th graders are going, Megan said). She was there earlier in the day for planning. Then there’s “Wealth Tax Wednesday,” trying to put more pressure on Gov. Bob Ferguson to find ways to raise money to fund education, despite his stated disinterest in a wealth tax for that purpose. They’re hoping to get baked goods donated for a real bake-sale component, in-kind donations for stickers and buttons. Slogans like “no more half-baked solutions,” “students deserve a bigger piece of the pie,” etc. Get everybody involved, she urged, “we need tons of people to rally for public education.” Next Thursday Gatewood will have a bake sale during Literacy Night. Megan also talked about the January 28 parental event on social media and “playborhoods,” noted here last night.
‘ONE SEATTLE PLAN’ MEETING AND WHAT’S NEXT: Back on December 12, more than 50 people crowded into the High Point Library meeting room to for MoCA’s unofficial informational meeting about the city’s proposed rezoning/Comprehensive Plan updates. Morgan then sent a letter to the city (see it here) with suggestions and concerns. No responses from city reps yet. Two attendees reminded all that the council is having public meetings (including one earlier Wednesday) and an official public-hearing-only meeting February 5. They noted the city had not reached out to all residents to let them know about this – supposedly the city said it didn’t have money for that but “there’s a 20-year plan they’re making, and they don’t have the money to let everybody know?” Barker said she had organized the informational meeting – as she’s done with other matters – just to help people learn (the meeting was, as we showed in this report, largely Q&A amid a room ringed by posted city maps).
SPINOFF TOPIC – EMERGENCY HUBS: A musing about the California fires and density led to a mention of Seattle’s biggest disaster threat – earthquake – and a reminder about the Emergency Communication Hubs. That’s where you’ll go for info about what’s going on in the aftermath of catastrophe. Know where yours is, at the very least!
(See the map fullscreen here.) Morgan’s hub is at Morgan Junction Park.
REMEMBERING WSB CO-FOUNDER: Barker noted WSB co-founder Patrick Sand‘s arrival at the previous MoCA meeting on what turned out to be the last night of his life, October 16 (arriving a bit early to pick up your editor for the short ride home). She recalled Patrick’s insistence every year that WSB get dibs on sponsoring a Morgan Community Festival act, and his willing to jump into meeting discussion with information if somebody got stumped. In closing, she recalled a memory from the Highland Park Improvement Club‘s group photo before demolition of their fire-ravaged building last summer; from across SW Holden, between cars, he shouted at the participants, “Get closer! Get closer!” That’s what he did, Barker concluded – “brought us closer.”
NEXT MEETING: Third Wednesday in April – so that’s April 16.
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