By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Barely 24 hours before tonight’s Alki gunfire, preventing crime at the beach was a major focus at this month’s Alki Community Council meeting.

PREVENTING ALKI CRIME: President Charlotte Starck recapped a recent walking tour with city reps including District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka, Southwest Precinct police, and managers from Seattle City Light.

(Photos from Councilmember Saka’s office via Alki Community Council)

Starck said City Light has committed to, by Memorial Day, install brighter lights on the inland side of Alki Avenue – “pedestrian-level” lighting on wood utility poles. Businesses participating on the walk included some already hit by burglaries or attempted break-ins. (That included Fire Tacos, near the scene of tonight’s gunfire as shown in the photo below.)

So now, ACC vice president Zak Nyberg said, they are looking into rebooting the Block Watch program in more areas of Alki. The SW precinct’s interim Crime Prevention Coordinator Matt Brown said he has 10 volunteer Block Watch Captains on Alki right now – maybe covering 25 percent of that area, which he considers “underserved.” One of those 10 BW captains was at the ACC meeting and said she has been a captain near Alki Point for five years and has an email list of 62 neighbors to circulate information to. She said she’s worked with neighbors on feedback for city projects as well as disaster preparedness, and that they’ve had mini-block parties in the summer, as well as holiday gatherings. She said it’s not a major time commitment – maybe an hour per month most of the year.

One attendee who had experience in a non-West Seattle business district said that security-related signage can be helpful in businesses. Also discussed, the Connect Seattle program where people with security cameras can let the city know so that they can be asked about video if anything happens in their area. Even if you’re registered and get a request, “You can say no,” Brown reminded everyone. (He also said that West Seattle is the area of the city with the largest number of registered cameras.)

Other topics at the ACC meeting:

SCHMITZ PARK CREEK RESTORE: This organization‘s co-founder Brian Barilleaux said this effort has been under way for about three years now (publicly surfaced two years ago) – they’re conducting tours and ivy-removal events, and working on forest trails in Schmitz Preserve Park.Their project’s ultimate goal remains to daylight the creek and bring back salmon. Tim DiMarco, co-chair, talked about how “this beautiful creek” gets “dumped into a culvert.” Can the creek really be restored? They now have funding for a hydrologic study to help answer that question.

They’re also working to honor the Schmitz Family’s intention in donating the forested parkland to keep it natural. Their tours have increasingly focused on the history of the area, including the Indigenous people who lived there first. And Barilleaux said they have a lot of help in their efforts – with 350 volunteers now on their list. And you can support them by donating. He said it’s vital to get even more of the community involved “in the park and what we’re trying to do with it.” They’re also urging people to rip invasives out of their own yards and replant native species to “bring back the isects” and the birds. “We’re trying to get people to quit plating English ivy … it ends up in the park,” DiMarco noted. Brian added that the tire-dust poison seen in automotive runoff doesn’t affect Schmitz Preserve Park, because runoff flows elsewhere and the park water is pristine. That’s why it’s so unfortunate that “right now the creek is in a pipe and the salmon don’t want to go there,” said DiMarco. An attendee had memories of the creek being routed down to 56th/Alki back in the ’60s. Daylighting the creek is going to take years, they summarized, but you can help take small steps now, moving ever closer to the goal. Find out about volunteering and tours on the Schmitz Park Creek Restore website.

UPDATE FROM A CLEANER ALKI: Erik Bell, who’s also on the ACC board, is in his fifth year leading cleanups around (mostly) West Seattle – restoration and “sprucing” of public spaces too. He demurred, “You don’t have to have any special skills to do what we do.” Besides pre-scheduled events, A Cleaner Alki also offers Block Drops – buckets of tools at various public spaces where you can borrow them. He introduced volunteer Joe, who makes good use of Block Drops and told his story – including the joy of gratitude expressed by passers-by. Also discussed: The need for more regular litter pickups by Parks crews.

EMERGENCY HUBS: Also in the vein of community involvement, visiting speaker Cindi Barker from Seattle Emergency Hubs reminded the group that there’s a hub – a pre-designated community gathering place in case of catastrophe – for Alki, and it’s ready for more involvement. The next West Seattle hub practice (drill) will be in August at Morgan Junction Park. To get involved and to see the map that’ll show you the nearest hub – whether or not you’re an Alki resident – go here.

NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS: Starck reported on a citywide meeting of reps from neighborhood groups like ACC, with the big question: “How do we keep the neighborhood groups going?” (West Seattle, for example, has barely half the number it used to.) They discussed their mutual challenges, strengths, and needs. “It was really great to meet them,” and to also note who’s active and who’s not – the city Department of Neighborhoods website has a list that’s largely outdated, she said. The coalition plans to meet again in August.

DESIGN REVIEW REBOOT: Deb Barker, president of the Morgan Community Association and retired municipal land-use planner, is also a former Southwest Design Review Board member, and as such has thorough knowledge of a city program that is on the ropes. She came to let the ACC know about a new citywide effort, the Design Review Reboot Coalition. They’re trying to make sure there is a community voice at the table before Design Review – which used to offer opportunities for public participation in development planning – is killed off forever. The group disagrees with the oft-heard contention that Design Review raises project costs and lengthens timelines. Even more than the city, she said, state government is behind much of the momentum for scrapping or shrinking Design Review. “We’re trying to get back to the Design Review table,” she said; it was also noted that Design Review requirements had led to community notification of projects that otherwise go largely unannounced. If you’re interested in getting involved, email design.review.reboot@gmail.com.

NEXT MEETING: The ACC meets third Thursdays most months, so watch for the April meeting announcement by mid-month.