February 2013

Information from Richard Miller with WSCPC:

Feb. 19 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at:

Southwest Police Precinct
2300 SW Webster
Seattle, WA

We will have Robert Stowers, Parks Resources Manager, Seattle Parks and Recreation, Mr Stowers will address questions of safety and security in
Seattle parks.

In addition, we will have Sarah Sorensen, Volunteer Supervisor, Seattle Police Department's Victim Support Team (VST). She will discuss the upcoming VST Academy training session and how to become a VST volunteer.

Come address the safety issues that matter most to you. Discuss crime & nuisance hotspots with neighbors and police officers working in your neighborhood.

Meeting is held from 7-8:30pm on the 3rd Tues of every month except for July, Aug, & Dec.

World Vision has partnered up with Waggner Edstrom World Wide to assemble over 130 backpacks filled with school supplies.

40 backpacks went directly to the families who lost everything in the apartment fire in Burien a couple of weeks ago.

The other backpacks were distributed to teachers who came to shop at the teacher resource center at Salmon Creek.

On Sunday night, Feb. 10, a hit and run occurred in the Blue Ridge area around 8:15 p.m., totaling the victim's car.

The victim said that a red Nissan, possibly a Pathfinder, plowed in his 2010 Honda CRV parking in front of his home on NW 85th St and 24th Ave NW, and then sped off. The victim had yelled at the driver to stop and said the suspect almost ran him over. The victim said he was able to get a partial number on the license plate, which possibly started with AJA 616 --.

The victim said he and his wife are in their 70s and that the Honda was going to be the last car they purchased in their lifetime. Costs from the damage also means they have to cancel their last fishing trip to Alaska, the victim said.

In a Craigslist rant ad, the victim posted, "Pray that the bad karma you have generated does not come on to your parents in their old age. I just hope it comes back on you tenfold."

If you know anything, you may contact the Seattle Police Department North Precinct at (206) 684-0850, or the victim at RedNissanHandR@aol.com.

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Human trafficking can happen to anyone, in any form, at any place.

Even Ballard.

No, The Ballard News-Tribune hasn’t uncovered a Ballard-based human trafficking circuit. But it doesn’t mean the crime isn’t happening.

Seattle is a hotbed for human trafficking. Rani Hong, a U.N. gift adviser and former victim herself, calls Seattle the third worst spot for it. The data is actually pretty fuzzy on actual rankings due to the secrecy of the crimes and general quietness and perhaps ignorance of victims, but Washington State’s number of entry points -- I-5, a border with Canada, several ports, an international airport and large rural areas -- makes Seattle a natural intersection for the crime.

It’s why Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36) has been one of the most adamant and outspoken legislators on the subject. With history as a sociology professor at the University of Washington and earlier as an instructor on courses about children and sex in California, Kohl-Welles has been responsible for helping introduce the first anti-human trafficking bills in the nation back in 2002.

Emma Epps has been with her pure bred Collie companion Lacey for 16 years. Lacey came from a veterinarian, "out in the country but I don't remember the name of the town," said Epps, " I was 11 years old.

At her age Lacey isn't as active as she used to be and, "she sleeps pretty much all the time. I don't have a lot of expectations of her."

But in her younger years, Lacey was fond (and still is a bit) of getting under things like furniture and at one point did have quite an adventure.

"We were at a friend's place who is a dog groomer but she also boards dogs for people, and she lives near Mt. Vernon. We were going to be out of town and couldn't take Lacey with us. So we came back and the next morning my Mom wakes me up and says, 'I'm sorry honey but Lacey has run away.' I knew she would come back eventually but she was gone for three days. Just after she was lost in the countryside I had a craving for Chinese food (which I don't usually like). My mom and I went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. My fortune cookie: "You will find what you have lost."

SDOT press release
The intersection at Delridge Way Southwest and Southwest Trenton Street will be closed this weekend from 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15 until 6 a.m. Monday, Feb. 18 as part of the Delridge Way paving project.
Seattle Department of Transportation is in the first phase rebuilding much of Delridge Way Southwest between Southwest Orchard and Southwest Roxbury streets. To reduce impacts to the community, intersection construction is taking place on weekends, working around the clock.

Traffic this weekend will be detoured as follows, with local access maintained (see the attached map):
· Northbound Delridge Way SW to SW Barton Place/Street to 35th Avenue SW to SW Thistle Street to Delridge Way SW
· Southbound Delridge Way SW to SW Thistle Street to 35th Avenue SW to SW Barton Street/Place to Delridge Way SW
· Westbound SW Trenton Street to 16th Avenue SW to SW Henderson Street to SW Barton Place to 25th Avenue SW to SW Trenton Street
· Eastbound SW Trenton Street to 25th Avenue SW to SW Barton Place to SW Henderson Street to 16th Avenue SW to SW Trenton Street

When a game is close all it takes is missed shots and lack of rebounds late in a contest to get a loss. That's what happened to West Seattle in their first round match up against Mercer Island at the Hawks Nest on the campus of Chief Sealth High School.

In the beginning the Wildcats had control of the game pulling away from the Islanders in the first period 10-6 and extended their lead by six at the half 20-14 with the hot shooting of Lexi Ione’s seven points. West Seattle went into the locker room with an air of confidence, but that would be misleading.

In the second half the Islanders found and answer to the Wildcat offense and made West Seattle shoot off balance and when the shots failed the Islanders grabbed the rebounds and pressed the ball to their end of the court.

Mercer Island’s defense crowded the area under the hoop. Every time West Seattle found a lane and drove to the basket the Islanders double and triple teamed the ball handler and either forced a turnover or blocked the shot. On several occasions the Wildcats were forced to turn the ball over due to shot clock violations.

Home-made “sweets for the sweet,” will be available in abundance at the Providence Mount St. Vincent Auxiliary's pre- Valentine's Day bake sale Wednesday Feb. 13 from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm, in the lobby of The Mount.

Proceeds from the bake sale benefit residents and programs of The Mount.

The public is welcome to stop by and pick up some treats for their special Valentines. The address is: 4831 35th Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98126.

With Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel construction lasting into 2016 and downtown waterfront transformations continuing until at least 2019, King County Metro Transit’s general manager Kevin Desmond is calling for additional Metro funding to provide adequate transit options that will keep vehicle congestion down over the next six years.

Desmond, in a recent newsletter, wrote, “Over the past two years, as work on the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement has disrupted traffic around downtown Seattle, Metro has played a key role in reducing congestion and delays and giving people reliable transportation to and from the Seattle core. Using project mitigation funds, we have substantially increased transit service on corridors affected by the construction, attracting thousands of new riders and contributing to a sizeable decline in vehicles on the viaduct.”

Just a quick notice to let you know that the Central Ballard Residents' Association will be postponed a week due to the holiday of love, Valentine's Day. (We know, you were hoping to bring your sweetie to talk about wonky, controversial Central Ballard issues, but alas.)

Instead, the meeting will be held on Thursday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m., at the Ballard Swedish Hospital, Conference Room A. Speakers will be coming to talk about the Ballard-Downtown rapid transit study. Attending will be Sound Transit's Karen Waterman, SDOT's Michael James and Rebecca Deehr from the Mayor's Office.

Next month, someone from SDOT will be coming to talk about Residential Zone Parking.

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