August 2013

In our weekly tabulation of crimes reported in West Seattle for the Herald’s Police Blotter, we noticed the hits for burglaries from Aug. 19 to Aug. 25 just kept coming up. Once the final tally was in, we had over 30 burglaries reported in that seven day span.

We reached out to Seattle Police Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Pierre Davis to ask if they noticed a spike on their end.

“We did see and notice the spike,” Davis said in an email, noting it was a citywide phenomenon seen beyond West Seattle.

Davis said his department has “caught quite a few burglars in the last few months,” and, “this recent spike was a definite surprise.”

“We’ve got leads and are zeroing in on our culprits,” he added.

The City of Seattle “My Neighborhood” crime map shows a divided trend from the 19th to the 25th, with burglars hitting homes and parking garages in the southern and northern regions of West Seattle, but mostly leaving the central swath alone.

Davis left us with this reminder for the community:

August 28, 2013, marked the 50 year anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. in 1963, where the clergyman and civil rights activist called for an end to racism in the United States.

In memory of Dr. King’s legacy (including the namesake for our county), King County elected officials spoke of his legacy at the King County Courthouse, where artwork featuring Dr. King is on display in the building’s rotunda.

Here are their remarks, courtesy of a King County press release:

"Fifty years after that pivotal event, we are still striving to make Dr. King's dream a reality," said Executive Constantine. "On this day we rededicate ourselves to the task of creating a truly just society, where every person has the opportunity to fulfill his or her potential."

King County Council Chair Larry Gossett was heavily involved in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. As a student at the University of Washington, he was one of the founders of the Black Student Union. During today's observance, Council Chair Gossett encouraged attendees to keep working to eliminate inequities.

After a 10-month stint at the old Papa’s Pub on 16th Ave. S.W. in White Center, Meander’s Kitchen owner Miranda Krone announced via Facebook on Aug. 27 that she is meandering the breakfast joint a bit south, to 9809 16th Ave. S.W. where San Fernando Roasted Chicken was located before closing down.

Here is Krone’s note to her customers (from Facebook):

"Meander's will be closed for the next couple of days while we move one block down the street into a smaller space that I think will much more closely match the intention behind our place.

"I'm sure I'll end up writing up a big long thing about it later, but right now I'm plotting fall menu changes and a little tuckered out from raiding 2nd Use for cool stuff to build a coffee counter with.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson and
Washington's lottery warn about lottery scams

Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Officials from Washington's Lottery are bringing attention to lottery scams. Individuals and groups are calling and emailing victims on a more regular basis with the goal of tricking people into thinking they’ve won a lottery prize. 



The goal of lottery scammers is to convince victims to provide personal information or pay fake “processing fees” and “taxes” through a wire transfer or money order. In most cases if the scam is successful the money can’t be recovered as many lottery scams are conducted by parties living outside the United States. It is very difficult to track these criminals and even more difficult to successfully prosecute them.

The most common type of lottery scam is conducted over email although websites and social media lottery scams such as messages through Facebook are becoming more prevalent. Telephone scams are also very common and criminals are calling victims from out of the country or using a disposable phone to announce a winning prize.

The other day my housekeeper, Paulette Joy Lovely, (honest, that is her real name) was at Lincoln park in West Seattle and was astounded by the huge number of fisher folk on the shoreline fishing for salmon. Men, boys, women, grampas, grammas, all lined up with casting rods attempting to bring home fresh caught Pink Salmon or whatever else might be wimming by.

Most were using spinning rods and casting colored spoons while standing on the bank though there were also a bunch of boats cruising out of reach of the shoreline anglers. She counted 70 people on the bank thrashing the saltwater to a froth. She even spotted an eagle cruising overhead watching for dinner and took a picture of it. Paulette Joy Lovely has a son who is a fishing guide on the Columbia River near Vancouver, where she has caught huge steelhead when floating with him. She's very helpful to me too. I'm hooked.

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By Lee Ryan

When I think of the USO, I go back to what I remember seeing in the old war movies – dancing, food and fellowship. After talking to Joice Bueling (68) of Normandy Park, I find that some of it hasn’t changed. I ran into her at a garage sale. She was selling her photograph cards to raise money for the USO. Her enthusiasm was so contagious that I was compelled to write about it.

Joice has been a volunteer for USO Northwest, up at SeaTac Airport, since 2005. She and her brother, James, joined together, after their father, Arnold Landerdahl died. He was an Army Chaplain. “We grew up military and when dad died, we decided to meet up and serve, together, and make Dad proud. A year later, my husband Gary joined us”, Joice said.

With almost 2000 hours of service, Joice knows everyone and couldn’t wait to introduce me to Don Leingang, Executive Director of USONW, which covers Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska, and Bill Baker, Manager of USONW at SeaTac Airport.

Changes are afoot in Alki as developer Borge Steinsvik is moving forward with his plans for mixed-use “Alki Landing,” located at the eastern corner of 59th Ave. S.W. and Alki Ave. S.W.

Steinsvik owns the 13,700 ft. lot that Alki Beach Properties and Saigon Boat Café currently call home. According to Roger H Newell AIA Architects (tasked with designing the new development) the plans are for a mixed-use residential and commercial space with surface parking and “one or two eating establishments on the main floor of the building with possible commercial uses on the upper floors.”

Newell said Steinsvik “has given us the green light to complete the design and obtain building permits for his Alki Landing project. The city planning staff has set a date for the pre-application meeting which is required prior to our submittal of the EDG (early design guidance) packet.”

Once the pre-application process is complete an EDG meeting with the Southwest Design Review Board (open to the public) will be set, at which time Newell will present four different design options.

From Seattle Police Department

Are you missing your bike? Then check out our newest Twitter feed, @Getyourbikeback.

Right now, SPD has about 500 “found” bikes in storage at our Evidence Warehouse. Each one of those bikes was abandoned somewhere in the city, then later recovered by officers. We may have your bike, and we’d like to reunite you with your wheels.

It’s a good bet that a number of the bikes in our warehouse were previously stolen, but owners don’t always call police to make a report. Why, you ask?

“People think that if they don’t have their bike’s serial number, they can’t make a stolen bicycle report,” says Found Property Detective Michael Whidbey. “You don’t absolutely need a serial number to get your bike back, but it does expedite the process.”

The original headline proposed for this article by Ballard News-Tribune Columnist Peggy Sturdivant was "Aster is Toast."

But, even if quite literal, that might have been initially too confusing for readers.

The fact is, five years after it opened in 2008, Aster Coffee Lounge is no more. This Friday, at 7 p.m., it will reopen as Toast Ballard (5615 24th Ave NW). And to open up in style, they will be kicking things off with a party, including beer and wine specials and music by Ballard resident Drew Piston.

Owner Frank Trevino said the name is multi-faceted, "a little homage to the neighborhood." It's a toast to Ballard. Toast, like toasting drinks. And toast as in, uh, toast.

Toast Ballard is completely revamping what Aster used to be. The new owners Trevino and Ashley Bucenec bought the establishment back in April and have had trouble living up to the Aster image. While they tried to stick to it for a while, "the rep got a little hurt," Trevino said.

For locals, Olaf's at 6301 24th Ave NW has a lot to live up to. In a sense, the new bar is taking the place of two other 24th Ave NW bars: The Viking and the Copper Gate, both beloved bars that harkened back to Old Ballard and represented the area's Scandinavian history.

First, there are a couple of rumors to dispel about the bar before it has its soft opening this Friday at 4 p.m.: Olaf's is not a sports bar or a karaoke bar or any mixture of the two. While they do plan to show Seahawks games because they are Seahawks fans, co-owners David "Cheeto" Chilson and Pete Pigott said they plan to have the volume off on the one flatscreen television hanging over the bar.

Rather, the owners aim to be a bar for the locals. A place where people of all kinds, from the older and the newer Ballard crowds, can come to sit down, have a pint and eat some grub.