Crime Watch: Another multiple-burglary suspect caught
One more update from last night’s West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting (see the traffic-improvements report and added car-prowl details below): Community Police Team officer Adonis Topacio says at least three recent local burglaries have been linked to a suspect with a criminal history — and right now, Topacio said, he’s in custody in Florida, where he had gone to visit relatives even though leaving the state was a probation violation. Police are working to see how many burglaries in all might be linked to this suspect; this time, Topacio said, “looks like he’s going to be spending a lot of time in jail.”
Arson-victim help: Raffle tickets on sale now
No arrests yet, almost 4 weeks after the arson that gutted Puget Sound Key and Lock in Morgan Junction. WSB Forum Community members are not only inviting you to a get-together Saturday night to raise some $ to help the business reopen, they’re also selling raffle tickets ahead of time so you can pitch in — and get a chance at great prizes donated by generous businesses — without even attending Saturday night if you have other plans. You can buy tickets at Admiral Pub tonight and tomorrow night, 7-8 pm, to win M’s tickets, gym memberships, artwork, massage(s), and more! The winning tickets will be announced at the community get-together/fundraiser, also at Admiral Pub, 6-9 pm Saturday. You don’t need to be present to win. Raffle tickets also available at the get-together (and families are welcome, since Admiral Pub is all-ages till 9 pm; more info in this WSB Forum thread), as well as during the West Seattle Community Recognition Awards gathering 7-8 pm Friday at Capers in The Junction (stop in and say hi if you can) — and you can even e-mail to get in on the raffle: wsbforum@gmail.com will connect you with the Forum Community members who are handling it.
Reader report: Someone who cared enough … to paint
Out of the WSB inbox, from Paul (the report he refers to from yesterday can be found here):
The 6053 California property, that you have (run yesterday) in your blog, has been continually attacked by taggers and graffiti. It had a severe attack again last week on the opposite 2 sides that were shown in your picture.
Saturday afternoon, when I drove into the alley I spotted a man with paint and roller next to his car. I was suspicious and approached him in my gruffest block-watch-nosey-neighbor way. He said hello and said he hated graffiti and was going to paint. This caught me completely off guard. I asked him if he was a new property manager. He said no, he was just a concerned neighbor that lived on 66th. (? this was a little vague).
But anyway, he took white paint and covered all the graffiti and cleaned the paint off a local contractor’s panel truck. It was a miracle! Never has a stranger drove in that alley to do good.
I am ashamed that I did not pay closer attention to the man’s name but I want to see that his efforts are recognized. I would like to thank Dick from 66th ave. (?) for painting and cleaning the alley along 6053 California. Thank you. Your efforts have encouraged me.
I was going to send you a picture of a blank white brick wall to go along with this story. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
West Seattle Crime Watch: Aggressive car prowler alert
This time, the alert comes straight from Lt. Steve Paulsen @ Southwest Precinct, who asked that we share this with you:
(Starting with the recent spring vacations), the Harbor Ave SW area has been inundated with carprowls … The suspects are bold and aggressive. They will wait for vehicles to park, then once the owner leaves they commit their crime. The suspects are prowling cars parked on the street and local businesses. We are working this issue aggressively with patrols and followup work from our detectives. We hope to get some success out of this. Citizens need to be reminded to keep valuables out of cars, particularly laptops.
We’d second that one, having seen countless cases of car break-ins where laptops, iPods, and GPS systems were the loot. 9:07 PM UPDATE: Just back from the West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting, where we learned more about this — Officer Brian Ballew said last night alone, there were about half a dozen in the Salty’s vicinity during a 2-hour period; there’s surveillance video showing possible suspects so that’s being reviewed now.
West Seattle author has something to crow about
Last June, the subject of that unusually colored crow came up in the comments on this post, back when we were still anonymous, so we never let on that it lived practically outside our front door. But now it’s making news again, sort of, as one of the birds mentioned in the upcoming book that made a West Seattle author a finalist for a prestigious prize. Lyanda Lynn Haupt has been honored as a finalist for a 2008 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Prize, on behalf of “Crow Planet” — which one judge said “promises to be a fascinating and original book” giving us a window into the lives of these ubiquitous, yet mysterious, birds. Read the full citation here; more about the author at her website here. Now, as for the particular crow, known at WSB HQ as “the golden crow” (now spending time further east), she says:
Partially albinistic or leucistic crows — birds with white or light patches of feathers — are somewhat common. In albinism, all pigment is lacking; in leucism, some pigment is lacking (feathers are normally colored with layers of pigment, so if one of the color layers is missing, the feathers will be lighter or differently colored). But a fully leucistic crow like “Leucy,” as my 9-year-old daughter calls it, is quite rare. Notice that even the “bare parts” as they are called — the bill, feet, etc. are also light. Very cool bird.
Alki sidewalk project follow-up: Design “proceeding,” for now
Two weeks ago, at the contentious Alki Community Center meeting (WSB coverage from that night is here) about the proposed sidewalk project along an area consisting mostly of the north side of Alki Ave’s west end (shown above), one citizen asked city reps what kind of process would be needed to stop the project. The city promised to check into it, but had no quick answer because they’d never been asked to cancel this type of citizen-initiated (background here) project before. We just checked with Seattle Transportation Department communications boss Rick Sheridan to see if they’d come up with the answer. Short version — no; he tells WSB, “We are having internal discussions about it, but no formal decision has been made yet.” Meantime, Sheridan says feedback from the meeting and “other sources” is being processed, and adds, “In the near term, we will proceed with the project’s design while continuing to work with adjacent property owners and the community.” By the way, the presentation from the 4/2 meeting is available online now (see it here), with the various options the city presented, including a one-way alternative that pretty much died on the spot that night. And if you have feedback about the Alki sidewalk project, SDOT’s Sandra (Sam) Woods is the person to e-mail, sandra.woods@seattle.gov is her address.
Junction Association update #2: Latest on Pet Fest
Courtesy of the LOLcat generator @ Seattle-based ICanHasCheezburger.com … our illustration for the fact we have more details on the “Ugliest Dog/Ugliest Cat in West Seattle” contest under way now in advance of the West Seattle Junction Association‘s first-ever Pet Fest, 10 am-4 pm April 27. As we mentioned last week, you can enter your pet now by visiting Next to Nature, where Louis Lujan explains they’re not really asking you to declare your beloved pet “ugly,” but rather, more like a “funniest-looking” pet (or pet photo) situation — Louis tells WSB, “It’s supposed to provide a few lighthearted chuckles … We’d gladly accept some animals that are just having ‘bad-hair days’ or ones that are dressed up to be ‘ugly’.” Dogs will be judged “in person” on Pet Fest day; cats will be judged by fest-goers viewing their photos (out of respect for the fact most cats don’t like crowd situations); photos in either category should be entered ASAP at NTN in The Junction. Later today, one more Junction Association update – the newest details on what’s in the works for Summer Fest in July!
Deadline Day: Where to get your return postmarked by midnight
That’s a West Seattle scene from earlier this tax-preparing season; in February, WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham caught Megan Legua and Irine Rodriguez strolling through The Junction in their Liberty Tax Service-provided costumes. For that firm, for the local H&R Block (WSB sponsor) offices, and for countless CPAs and other tax experts — plus those who choose to go it alone — this is crunch day. If you’re sending your return by postal mail, the Postal Service says there is a grand total of ONE Seattle-vicinity post office where you can get it postmarked all the way up till midnight: 15250 32nd Avenue South (map). (Other Western Washington locations are listed here; listed hours for West Seattle’s two post offices are till 6 pm @ Westwood, till 5 pm @ Junction.)
Road worrier? 2 meetings of interest tonight
HOW’S THE CITY SPENDING YOUR MONEY? The Bridging the Gap Citizen Oversight Committee is having its quarterly meeting tonight in West Seattle, 6:30 pm @ Youngstown Arts Center. Read more about the committee and the meeting here. They keep an eye on how the city is spending the money from the BTG levy.
“TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT” QUESTIONS? IDEAS? Luke Korpi, senior engineer with the city Transportation Department, is the guy to ask/tell – and tonight, he’s the guest at the West Seattle Community Safety Partnership monthly meeting, 7 pm, Southwest Precinct meeting room (Delridge & Webster, east of Home Depot). This is also the monthly meeting attended by key police personnel from SWP with briefings on West Seattle crime trends and opportunities for you to tell/ask them about concerns in your neighborhood.
4th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day update
Haven’t decided yet if you’re going to have a sale on West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 10; official website here)? Check out the Top 10 Reasons to Have a Garage Sale! In the case of WSCGSD, another top reason is to join in a communitywide event — maybe even get to know your neighbors better by having a block sale — if you don’t want to have an individual sale, have a block (3 or more homes) or business/organization/school sale — we’ve got some great-sounding ones already in the nearly three dozen sales that are on the list so far. Get on the map (literally) – plan your sale and sign up online (go here) or by mail (download the form here, or pick up a copy at one of the locations listed here). We’ve added a few extras this year including a “Best Sign” contest (here’s some inspiration from last summer; wasn’t part of WSCGSD but sure caught our eye). Registration’s open till April 25; even if you’re more a shopper than a seller, mark your calendar for May 10 and get ready to shop till … you know. P.S. Shopper alert, this weekend is the granddaddy of all Seattle community garage sale days, the one that inspired Megawatt in 2005 to start one in West Seattle — 9 am-3 pm Saturday (April 19) is Greenwood Garage Sale Day, a tradition that’s been going on for more than a decade now; help build ours to match (maybe eclipse) theirs!
Junction Association updates: It’s not just about development
It’s no secret that entering West Seattle, Junction-bound, from the “Fauntleroy Triangle” area, you’re not exactly greeted with an inspirational view (photos above were taken as we drove westbound on Fauntleroy during the Saturday-afternoon sunshine). But you might be interested to hear that in this time of transition (related topic below), there’s a move afoot to change that — spearheaded by local leaders including West Seattle-residing Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and West Seattle Junction Association president Dave Montoure. They’re strategizing a way to beautify the “gateway to West Seattle,” and working on a strategy meeting to be held later this month. In a recent chat with WSB, Montoure — proprietor of West 5 — also talked about a new way that his establishment and the Junction’s other food businesses are going green — and making history in the process:Read More
You know what you DON’T want – so what DO you want?
In the discussion that followed our report on last Thursday’s Southwest Design Review Board meeting – the first look at early plans for two more major Junction projects (Conner Homes‘ buildings @ California/Alaska/42nd and Harbor Properties‘ building at 38th/Alaska) – the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce (whose executive director Patti Mullen and president Dawn Leverett, both profiled here recently, attended the meeting) was mentioned a few times. Some commenters were worried the C of C isn’t campaigning to attract the right types of businesses to West Seattle. Believe it or not, the C of C is truly interested in hearing what you DO want to see in terms of businesses for these new developments (and the rest of WS, for that matter), and asked us if we would throw that out to you for open discussion. So — what DO you want to see filling West Seattle’s commercial spaces?
West Seattle Crime Watch: About that Sat. night search
Lots of e-mails asking about this one — after an intense helicopter/ground search over part of east West Seattle on Saturday night — finally got the info: Lt. Norm James at the Southwest Precinct says it started with a domestic-violence call, one person threatening another with a knife (in a situation where there already was a restraining order) — the victim was not hurt, but it took about an hour to find and arrest the suspect (Lt. James says the K-9 team made the capture in the 5300 block of 21st SW).
6053 California project moves forward
Full disclosure, we are sentimentally attached to that 84-year-old building at California/Graham, as we mentioned when the redevelopment plan for that corner first came up almost exactly one year ago (first posted here, including historical reminiscences in the comments; there’s more history here). WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli subsequently went out and took photos of the building for posterity’s sake, including the two you see above. Over the course of the past year, the project has proceeded, as such things tend to do, and then came this morning’s city Land Use Information Bulletin, with only one item — this decision regarding environmental and design review. Next step, final permits for demolition and construction (what will be built there, you ask? 3-story live/work units and townhouses; here’s our coverage of the site’s last Design Review Board meeting, including a design photo).
But the water it protects flows to and from West Seattle shores, and as we were discussing this afternoon with a WS entrepreneur who’s on the 
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