“WSB Ambulance Chasers”

[JoB]

wsb also appears to be charity event chasers.. and school function chasers.. and political event chasers.. and planning meeting chasers… and great local photo chasers… and…

had the photos of the fire at the local locksmith not been published, we never would have known to help him…

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[amyeby]

I appreciate hearing everyone’s opinions to my original post. Part of the problem was that I was still very stressed–not sure whether my house was going to burn down as the firefighters were unable to find where all of the smoke was coming from. While the fireman was asking questions to help find the source the WSB reporter flashed his badge between the fireman and myself. I could not believe it. If only he would have WAITED to ask questions I possibly could understand. An address does not need to be posted for a NON-story.

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[cjboffoli]

amyeby: I’m sorry that you had this scare but happy to hear that you and your family were unharmed and did not suffer any property damage ( I hope). I think any of us in the same circumstances would indeed be pumped up with adrenaline, stressed and perhaps a bit embarrassed at all of the attention.

911 callouts are a matter of public record so it is tough to claim any kind of privacy with things like this. I guess it is also a bit tough to maintain any modicum of privacy when a fleet of large, bright red trucks comes screaming up to your house with sirens blazing, lights flashing and an army of firefighters spilling out.

Just like most people who pass an accident scene and look to see what happened, the story was all the commotion at your house, not what might have happened had things gone horribly wrong. Be grateful the story was what it was. You did nothing wrong. It was just an accident. You have nothing to be ashamed about. You are in no way being judged.

If any reporter was on your private property you would have the right to ask them to leave. And you are under no obligation to say anything to them. But they also have the right to ask what happened.

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[andrea]

like Jan, I’ve lived in WS for quite sometime (all of my 31 years), and have never been so motivated to get involved and proactive in my community as I have since becoming a member of the WSB community…all of the hard work, long hours, grit and determination exhibited by the WSB editors to relate up to the minute news, events, and other goings on in our community has been an impetus for me to want to be a bigger part of the WS world around me…so while I can understand the concern, dismay, and stress amyeby felt today, as well as others on here regarding what the WSB editors choose to post or not post, I believe their intentions to be honest and true and based solely on concern for their fellow neighbors…and while I agree that sometimes images can be disturbing to see, its usually those images then that rally people to action or change…that’s been the case with me at least. So thank you WSB editors for all you do for me and for my community…my appreciation runs deep.

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[WSB]

Thanks to those who are participating in this discussion. I am afraid that someone has taken the OP’s concerns and turned it into a tale of us terrorizing the person at the site of this morning’s fire call, however, and Patrick, who went down the hill to check it out, is posting his exact account of what transpired, in the comments on the original post, if anyone cares to go back there and read them. He was out of the house for approximately 10 minutes. The “flashed badge” is the Seattle Police-issued media pass that is required as ID to fire personnel at the scene, which is who Patrick was also attempting to talk to. Those of you who have decided we are some sort of ruthless reportorial types sadden me because you have no idea how I have spent 25 years in all facets of the news business fighting against that method of news coverage, keeping crews out of the faces of grieving family members, telling editors to leave the body bag shot on the cutting room floor, telling photographers not to shoot it in the first place, and I don’t believe that anything we have reported or covered for this site, whether it’s the coverage you see or our in-the-field conduct that you don’t, runs counter to that. If you decide that the occasional “spot news” is so disturbing that you don’t value the hundreds of posts we have published about everything from Cub Scouts to school auctions to colon-cancer survivors to design-review board meetings like the 3 1/2 hour one I am about to write up, then there’s nothing I can say to keep you here. I wasn’t going to jump back into this but needed to let you know that we have added our account of Patrick’s brief visit to the fire call this morning to the comments on the original post, because our character is being called into question unfairly and inaccurately. Thanks very much for your time; I’ve got more to write tonight so I’ll be out of the forum — TR

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[Anonymous]

TR – Again, thank for all that you do! As a new resident of Washington, I am extremely thankful that I found this site. You guys do a great job and, for what it’s worth, you are greatly appreciated.

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[BobLoblaw]

WSB: Better pay attention to some of this this sentiment. You’re breaking new ground in micro-blogging here, and it’s the stuff court cases are built upon (speaking from the media law degree side of me). Pretty sure you’re smart enough to be aware of this stuff. But between operating expenses, health insurance, etc., I’m sure lawyer fees would suck for y’all. I love you. But I’m also worried a bit for you.

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[miws]

FWIW, those that are upset/offended by the reporting of this particular incident, might as well blame me as much as TR and Patrick.

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I don’t know if anyone else had reported it to them, or if they would have run across it on the SFD Response site on their own, but I heard sirens, checked SFD as usual, and e-mailed WSB when I saw the large response.

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Now, I don’t e-m WSB everytime I hear sirens and check SFD, if I did, they’d have my e-m addy blocked from excessive reporting of “Aid Response” down to the Kenney.

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If it had not been such a large response, but still listed as a fire, I honestly don’t know if I would have sent the e-m. But, this one seemed significant to me. Being a life long resident, and just trying to be a compassionite human being, I’m upset by any bad sounding fire in my community. And, as I shared to TR in the e-m, I lived for many years a block south of there on 42nd. I had walked through this neighborhood many times. My main concern is the safety of the people and pets living in these places, and my next concern is not only someone’s home possibly being destroyed, but perhaps, one of West Seattle’s beautiful old houses no longer being around.

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Sorry if my actions started all of this, and even though I might think twice about reporting something similar in the future, I will continue to do so, if it seems significant enough.

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Finally, once again, I’m glad eveyrthing was okay, after all, and with all due respect to the OP, I couldn’t imagine Patrick being so aggresive with the “badge flashing” even before TR clarified the situation.

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Mike

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[charlabob]

Mike, I hope you and the other “informal correspondents” don’t stop informing wsb when something is happening. That’s what gives the community aspect its immediacy and it would be a shame to lose it. Nothing could destroy the specialness of what we have quicker than a sudden attack of timidity on all our parts.

Thanks to you all for what you do!

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[WSB]

One other thing we wanted to point out, and I should have noted it earlier.

We are extremely accessible and I would welcome the chance to talk in person, by phone, by e-mail, with anyone who wants to voice a complaint, a concern, a kudo, talk about WSB and its direction and ideas, whatever. That is a quicker way to reach us with whatever you want to say, than opening a forum topic — I didn’t see this till it had been up for two hours — though whatever means you want to take to communicate, we support, as, we run this website specifically to get more information about EVERYTHING in West Seattle out there to people who weren’t finding that information easily before (if it even existed online).

To reach us: We have copious contact information on our Contact page

https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?page_id=2

and our About page

https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?page_id=1246

both accessible from the tabs on the navigation bar atop every page of WSB. (I have also put all my contact info at the bottom of this post.)

The phone rings all day and the e-mailboxes jump all day and we are pleased and honored to be able to communicate with our fellow West Seattleites. We welcome hearing from you at any time about anything.

Also, regarding talking with us in person, you are all invited to the next informal reception for the West Seattle Community Recognition Awards (coffee/tea/snacks at Capers, next Friday evening, 4/18, time will be posted on the site as soon as we firm up one last bit of the arrangements). Coverage of the first such event is here:

https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=5251

Both of us will be there along with Junior Member of the Team (our son) and we would love to meet you, whether what you want to say to us is bad, good, indifferent, constructive criticism, story idea, brainstorming, you name it. (Or if you want to meet in person one-on-one, contact me and we’ll set it up. All of West Seattle is our office, since we are based at home, and we’ll be happy to meet you at your favorite coffee shop or park bench.)

Thanks again for spending time here; we hope you will continue to choose to do so.

Tracy Record

West Seattle Blog editor/co-publisher

westseattleblog@yahoo.com

editor@westseattleblog.com

206/293-6302

text: 2062936302@vtext.com

Two Facebook accounts (WS Blog and Tracy Record)

westseattleblog on Twitter

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