West Seattle, Washington
23 Friday
It’s been one year and five days since we first told you about Coffee at the Heights, the espresso shop that the proprietors of PB&J Textiles have been working on at their shop’s former location in Sunrise Heights (7349 35th SW; here’s a map). As is often the case for new food/drink establishments in particular, it’s been a bit of a bumpy road, but they are finally on the verge of opening – here’s the latest from proprietors Paul and David:
We are ready for our final inspections. Tuesday is plumbing and electrical, and if there are no issues then we can schedule the final health inspection. Once that passes, we are open. Our grand opening will start May 1 and run for 30 days with all of our drawings on May 31st! … Grand prize winner is a coffee drink for a day for a year!
In the meantime, Paul and David are looking for artists who might want to show their work in the new shop – they would love to hear from you ASAP – their number at PB&J Textiles is 206-243-3053.
The first question on everyone’s mind this morning was obviously – has anyone been caught yet, in connection with the robbery last night at 
John’s Corner Deli at 35th/Webster (original WSB coverage here)? We just talked with Officer Mark Jamieson in the Seattle Police media unit. The answer: No, no one in custody. Beyond that, two things: First, the media unit has just filed its summary of the situation on SPDBlotter, moments ago (see it here)- it mentions three details we didn’t have before: First, police say the robbers grabbed the entire cash register; second, they apparently got away in a vehicle, from a spot half a block away where the track followed by K-9 officers came to an end; third, the robbers were believed to be in their 30s. As for how the clerk is doing, we know he was taken to Harborview Medical Center, but information on his condition is not publicly available right now. Police are not saying whether the store got the incident on surveillance video but promise that if there are images to release to help in the search, we will get them so that they can be publicized. 10:14 AM UPDATE: We just went to the store to see if we could find out how the victim is doing. The shop is open again for business; the woman we spoke with didn’t want to say much more than, “My brother … is fine” and that they will be “OK.”
ORIGINAL 10:03 PM REPORT: The city’s 9-1-1 logs show a police and fire callout to the 7500 block of 35th to investigate an assault with weapons call. Text messages we’ve received say the search is working its way down Myrtle and some of the other side streets off that block of 35th. A helicopter is in the air over that area. Details will follow as we get them.
10:34 PM UPDATE: Police are still combing the area for two robbers who grabbed the cash till at John’s Corner Deli at 7500 35th SW. Police say two males wearing ski masks entered the store, one carrying a knife and the other carrying a firearm. A struggle ensued; a worker at the store received injuries which have not yet been disclosed.
Here’s a shot of what the floor inside looked like as seen from across the street.
1:29 AM UPDATE: The most recent update from police says the robbers are still on the loose and that the clerk suffered “facial injuries.” The descriptions of the robbers aren’t very detailed, but here’s exactly what police said in that update: One Hispanic male with a face mask and a shotgun; one “unknown race” male, mask, with a knife. If you have ANY information, call 911.
A neighborhood in Sunrise Heights, in the 32nd/Holden area (map), is nervously watching a newly rented house. It’s been rented by an agency called Sound Mental Health, to use as housing for some of its clients. And one of the programs from which those clients might come is the Re=entry Housing Pilot Project — a relatively new, state-funded program (described here) to help people make the transition from jail/prison to the rest of their life. Of course, once they’ve done their time, they have to go somewhere. But these neighbors are worried their street isn’t the right “somewhere” – partly because of schools and day-cares nearby, and 10 small children on the block. But they also wonder why they got no notice – till this happened, as explained by Bill:
A couple of my neighbors were in front of their house doing yard work when they noticed two young people walk up to the house that is right next door to them. They knew the house was recently for sale and/or for rent so the said “hello” thinking that these might be their new neighbors. What they quickly learned was that they were actually County employees doing a site inspection for the house because this home had been leased out to the County to house 5 convicted felons who will be released from prison. The County employees stated that these were not sex offenders but simply “convicts who committed violent crimes, domestic abuse, are recovering drug addicts or have mental health issues. Our neighbors quickly informed the rest of our block about this and we just had a neighborhood meeting (over the weekend) to discuss this. Nobody in our neighborhood was contacted by the County or anyone else for that matter to inform us that felons convicted of violent crimes would be moving in right next door to us.
We’ve learned a lot more since that first note came in — including the fact those weren’t county employees — an explanation of why neighbors didn’t get notice – and whether felons really might be moving in, ahead:Read More
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