By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Don Armeni Boat Ramp rocks!

(Photo by Stewart L.)

Or, you can call them “boulders.” That’s how they were described in a wide-ranging Alki Community Council meeting this past Thursday, facilitated by ACC president Charlotte Starck.

DON ARMENI IMPROVEMENTS: Seattle Parks didn’t have a speaker at the meeting but ACC had been in contact and learned that the boulders were placed to discourage drivers from going up onto the grassy area. More are planned. And more speed bumps to slow drivers inside the park. Parks has also added a gate, so both the entrance and exit are gated. They’ve also reinstalled “parking signs after they keep getting removed.” Parks also has been coordinating with SPD regarding consistently clearing out the park at 10 pm.

POLICE UPDATE: Year-to-date for Alki, said Officer German Barreto, sexual assault is the only category of crime that’s gone up. He didn’t have exact numbers. (Update: We’ve since received the numbers – two rapes reported in the Alki area year to date, compared to zero in the Alki area a year earlier.)

CARE COMMUNITY CRISIS RESPONDERS: CARE Department spokesperson Sean Blackwell was in attendance (as he usually is). He recapped the mayor’s West Seattle briefing a day earlier (WSB coverage here) about CARE Community Crisis Responders‘ expansion into Southwest and South Precinct areas. He explained the kind of call to which CARE Responders might be sent – maybe a person in crisis, walking in the street – he also explained that the team started with six responders and has now expanded to 24. Right now, they’re dispatching South and Southwest out of SODO, but (as we have reported) are working on a Southwest space. Their on-duty hours for potential dispatch are noon to 10 pm. Any particular geographic areas of emphasis in our area? They’re working right now to get the lay of the land on that, as well as walking the streets. “Please call 911 … if you see any kind of emergency,” and the people who answer will decide who to send.

An attendee wanted to know about the CCRs’ backgrounds compared to SPD’s Community Service Officers; they get training in Crisis Intervention, De-Escalation, etc., and are behavioral-health specialists (training in working with people with serious mental-health and/or substance-abuse issues). He also noted that “our crisis responders are not allowed to intervene until a police officer shows up and clears the scene” while saying they’re working on changing that. Other questions delved further into the separation of responsibilities and Blackwell clarified that the CARE CCRs generally are dealing with calls where lives are not in jeopardy. (For more intense situations, for example, SPD has a Crisis Response Team.) Do other cities have programs that this one’s modeled after? Blackwell mentioned Denver and Albuquerque, among others. He also responded to another question, explaining how dispatch decisions are made, starting with the calltakers who make decisions on “what type of call this is.” They’re currently not empowered to send CARE CCRs alone, yet, he said. (But the point is that police officers can often quickly clear from that call while the CARE responders continue working on the incident.)

REZONING: Brief mention of an ongoing citywide issue – Starck mentioned that the City Council isn’t hearing much from Alki in the ongoing rezoning-proposal discussion, and while ACC doesn’t advocate for any particular position, they urge everyone to go voice theirs. (Here’s a council update on where the process stands.)

Much of the meeting focused on future events and initiatives

ART WALK ON ALKI, WITH YOUNG ARTISTS: A volunteer has been working on this, trying to bring the West Seattle Art Walk to the beach, and talking to businesses. Art Walk director Molly Ryan joined her, saying her vision had been getting more students involved – “People show up for kids.” They have five Alki businesses signed up already to participate in the WSAW, with a plan to host student art work at the next one on April 10. West Seattle Arcade and sibling Gary’s Place, Alki Hair Studio, Blue Moon Burgers, and Duke’s, will participate, with either art or a food/drink special in April; Alki Coffee Co. and Ben & Jerry’s (as we reported) will join starting May 8 (first one after their planned April 23 opening). The Log House Museum will participate to, and had more to discuss at the ACC meeting:

LOG HOUSE MUSEUM: Alki’s only museum is operated by the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, whose sole staffer Elizabeth Rudrud spoke to ACC. She talked about a variety of museum matters, including the monthly Words, Writers, Southwest Stories series, and the upcoming April 11 gala dinner/auction (register now!). She also talked about what’s ahead, including a museum refresh and rebranding that will cultivate with a reopening celebration in about a year. Also this year, the SWSHS has been working to record oral histories with High Point residents.

ALKI BATHHOUSE: A local resident addressed the meeting, saying he thinks the Bathhouse is tremendously underutilized and should have more community events – discussions, concerts, open mics, perhaps even an ACC-sponsored event series with the help of city grant funding, he suggested. This is especially of interest as the Alki area has no community space with Alki Elementary and Alki Community Center both out of commission. (The Bathhouse is a Seattle Parks and Recreation facility.) Former ACC board member and ACC Advisory Council leader Leisa Rose stood up and recounted some of the history – when the Community Center had plenty of programming. She said it all shut down with budget cuts but “we used to have a fully functioning community center” and she would love to see progress toward making that happen again. (In recent years, the community center has only been used for child care/preschool.)

WEST SEATTLE 5K: Kevin Kramer urged everyone to get involved – maybe volunteer, table on behalf of ACC – in the big West Seattle High School PTSA-fundraising run along Alki on May 18.

ALKI ART FAIR: July 18-19-20 are this year’s dates, said ACC past president Tony Fragada. Volunteers will be needed.

ALKI HOLIDAY LIGHTS: This was such a hit that organizers are working to bring this back for a second year – they don’t know yet when Argosy Cruises will be bringing the Christmas Ship to the beach, but they’re hoping that it’ll be AFTER Thanksgiving, unlike last year. They’re planning an organizing meeting this week.

RAFFLE: While ACC meetings are usually hybrid, here’s a reason to attend in person if you can – everyone’s entered into a raffle. (Blueberry-lemon bread, cherry-filled puff pastry, and Swedish cookies were the prizes this time.)

GET INVOLVED! Lots of volunteer roles in the ACC – visit alkicommunitycouncil.org for ways to jump in.