June 2013

After successfully completing a five year lease at 8560 Greenwood Avenue North, Sip and Ship's second location (Ballard Sip and Ship is nearly 11 years old), Greenwood Sip and Ship has found a new home at 7511 Greenwood Avenue North.

"It is a much smaller space and cozier, and easier for customers to access," says Sip and Ship Owner Stephen Naramore. "Our primary focus was to find a location that would allow us to remain in the Greenwood neighborhood and service the growing corridor toward Phinney Ridge, we feel this location does just that. We can't express how excited we all are about this new move and look forward to reintroducing Greenwood Sip and Ship by opening its doors around July 15, 2013."

Until then, both 8560 and 7511 locations will be under construction. Beginning this Monday, June 17th, 8560 will be mindfully deconstructed over the next month. First, the mailboxes will be moved and then the shipping counters, and finally, the cafe will begin its shift to 7511. All Sip and Ship services will be available, albeit on a smaller scale.

Press release:

Des Moines Municipal Court Judge Veronica Galvan was elected president-elect of the Washington State District and Municipal Court Judges Association (DMCJA) at its annual business meeting. Judge Galvan becomes only the fifth municipal court judge ever elected to lead the DMCJA since its inception.

“I am honored by the faith and confidence my colleagues across the State of Washington have placed in me,” said Judge Galvan. “This is an exciting time for our courts, and I look forward to working on the challenge of improving our system of justice, not only in my city, but throughout the state.”

Judge Galvan has been a member of the Board of Governors of the DMCJA since 2008. The membership of the DMCJA consists of all 215 district and municipal court judges in the State of Washington.

On June 17, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and King County Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond announced the city is “buying more than 5,000 hours of added service per year through early 2016 on nine high ridership bus routes …” including the 21 and 120 routes through West Seattle.

The city will spend $750,000 saved from the Bridging the Gap levy to pay for the service, that will increase frequency from 30 to 15 or 60 to 30 minutes, depending on the route and time of day.

“This one-time savings will help us make transit a better option for more people,” McGinn said in a statement. “But there isn’t any more money where that came from. I stand with mayors from across King County and Washington State to urge our legislature to pass the local transportation funding package we proposed to them in February, which includes revenue options that will help prevent a devastating 17 percent cut to Metro bus service.”

Every week we pull police reports from the Seattle Police Department, and without fail, there are always multiple instances of burglaries in the Ballard area. It has some neighbors crying out that the neighborhood has, excuse the language, gone to hell in a handbasket. But how does Ballard really stack up in burglary ratios compared to the rest of the city?

The Seattle P-I put together a nifty slideshow detailing the top 52 neighborhoods in burglaries. While Ballard isn't No. 1 on the list -- that honor goes to the Laurelhurst/View Ridge area in the L3 beat with 722 residential burglaries in the past five years -- it might be fair to say that we get an honorable mention.

Here's the breakdown of the Ballard neighborhoods that made the list. You can correlate the them with the precinct map above.

• 35. N2: This Greenwood-neighborhood beat saw 225 residential burglaries reported in the past five years.

Hideaway bed and guns at little arms’ length
A man living in an apartment on the 8600 block of Delridge Way S.W. was arrested for domestic violence on June 15 after the mother of his children called police to report he assaulted her. She also said two children, ages 2 and 3, lived at the apartment and the suspect had three guns he kept around the house. The man was gone when police arrived, but 911 dispatch received another call from the home a few hours later, around 1 p.m., where no one spoke but children were heard in the background. Police responded again and reported they were kept out of the home deliberately and, based on the earlier DV call, called in SWAT backup. The woman then emerged with her children and said the suspect was not home. Police said “her demeanor said otherwise,” prompting a search that turned up no suspect initially, until an officer noticed a sectional couch seemed very, very heavy. Sure enough, they found their suspect crumpled up in a storage compartment of the couch. The man’s three-year-old daughter pointed out where “Daddy” kept his guns to police, including one on a bookshelf well within reach of the girl.

WEST SEATTLE CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL Community Safety Meeting,
TUESDAY, June 18, 2013
@ Southwest Police Precinct,
2300 SW Webster, 7 – 8:30pm

The June meeting will be open for discussion of various topics and community concerns. Please sent topics or issues to our e-mail below or bring your questions or concerns in written form to the meeting.
This will allow us to better budget our time.

Lt. Davis will be on hand to report on crime trends in the SW Precinct and take questions from the audience.

Reminders:
Seattle Night Out Aug 6, 2013
SW Police Precinct Picnic, Aug 17, 2013

THE MEETING IS OPEN TO EVERYONE.
For more information contact WSCPC at westseattleCPC@gmail.com

NEXT MEETING Sept 17, 2013

By Elizabeth Wang

If you’ve ever walked down Northwest 65th Street and tried (but failed) to pick up a Super Glued quarter from the sidewalk, you’ve been prey to one of Gene’s practical jokes.

Owner of the Sunset Hill Barbershop, Marion Eugene “Gene” George passed away on April 30. He was 74.

After opening his shop in Ballard in 1981, Gene quickly became known for passing out Pup-Peronis to dogs, handing out gumballs to children and, most notably, dealing out pranks to anyone who would fall for them.

“Everyone had a story about Gene. … Always a prankster, always joking around,” said Billy Higgins, one of Gene’s long-time customers. “He always had a story to tell.”

Higgins, now 22, had gotten his hair cut by Gene since he was only four years old. As a college student, he was never charged once.

When Higgins was off in Spokane attending Gonzaga University, he would sometimes lose touch with his hometown. But the minute he returned to the barbershop, Gene would fill him in on what he had missed.

Information from West Seattle Little League

West Seattle Little League Juniors wins District 7 Tournament of Champions (TOC) narrowly defeating the talented Angels from PAC West with a final score of 4 to 3 today.

The tournament was hosted by Renton Little League with the games played at McKnight Middle School in Renton.

Pitchers were starter Grayson O'Neil through 5 innings and Jacob Terao was the closer through the 7th.

Coaches are Mark Terao and Mark O'Neil.

Players are:
Jax Cramer
Chris Drake
Blue James
Jackson Oehling
Grayson O'Neil
Trifon Papahronis
Elijah Phouangphet
Timmy Roach
Gage Rowlands
Jacob Terao
Zach Gerhardt DNP Injury
Marcus Titialii DNP NA

The Highline Times stories about this Wrangling over the Road has a lot greater following than I thought. Dozens of people I don't know or haven't seen for years are asking questions about it. "Oh, you're that guy I read about in the Highline Times..." It's clear the Highline Times has reached deep into the communities. People are upset with the abuse of government and municipal power already. This is a "poster child" case.

This situation has become a serious ethics question. The Southwest Suburban Sewer District historically hasn't kept its written agreements, promises or word with my family, continues to find legal loopholes to satisfy their determination to use my property as a shortcut diminishing the value of this incredible place with their constant intrusions, loud diesel trucks grinding up and down the road, waves of diesel smoke, industrial vehicles crossing by each other, bumper to bumper seconds apart robbing this place of its natural beauty, peace and quiet.