Three people have been arrested for allegedly macing, then robbing a 12-year-old girl in Beacon Hill Monday.
The girl was walking near 25th Avenue South and South Dawson Street around 2:45 p.m. when a group of three people in a car drove past her and pulled up on the street, Seattle police said.
As the girl walked toward the car, a man and woman got out, asking for directions to nearby South Brandon Street.
The girl complied, but as she started to walk off, one of the suspects sprayed the girl in the back of the head with mace. Then they grabbed the girl’s backpack, knocked her to the ground, and demanded she give over her cell phone.
The attackers then jumped back into the car and sped away. The victim wasn’t seriously hurt.
However, several witnesses called 911 and officers found the car near 46th Avenue South and South Othello and arrested the three people inside.
Taken into custody were a 20- and 22-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman. All three were booked into the King County Jail for investigation of robbery.
Once at the jail, the woman set off a metal detector, and officers found she had hidden a can of mace inside her bra, police said.
Recently I have heard about several people in the North Beacon Hill area getting parking tickets for parking where they normally park every day. Some people were complaining about not having permits in a permit area; others didn’t know what they were ticketed for.
The one I heard quite a bit about at the store was a guy who got a ticket for “…nothing. I was just parked there. Tight against the curb and everything.” He then added that he was between two driveways, but he insisted that he was clearly not in front of either one. When I asked him what they cited him for, he did not know. He claimed it was not “clearly stated on the ticket.”
Tickets are supposed to tell you the Seattle Municipal Code violation number. And since they are printed out on little computer slips, I am sure they do. He just didn’t know how to read the ticket, or it did not read “You were cited because of this reason…”
My guess: SMC 11.72.110 – Driveway or alley entrance. Which says it is illegal to park within five feet of a driveway. (It reads: “No person shall stand or park a vehicle in front of a public or private driveway within a street or alley or in front of or in an alley entrance or within five feet (5′) of the end of a constructed driveway return or alley entrance return, or if none, within five feet (5′) of the projection of the edge of the driveway or alley.” — Ed.) Which means if our guy had a car 15 feet long, the space between the two driveways would have had to have been 25 feet to leave room for his car, and he would have to be parked perfectly.
Parking too close to a driveway makes it so the resident can not turn into, or pull out of, their driveway — effectively blocking them in. It is not their responsibility to try and “squeeze” around someone else’s bad parking habits.
–Todd Simpson, North Beacon Hill
Don't do what this driver in Ravenna did. Photo by Josh Larios via Flickr/Creative Commons.
The Jefferson Park Golf Clubhouse looked cozy in last month's snow. Photo by Joel Lee in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.By George Robertson
The decision to demolish the Jefferson Park Golf Clubhouse to make way for a low-budget two-story driving range should consider a lot more than money. If money was the only issue of import, there would be no Pike Place Market. The Jefferson Park Golf Clubhouse is made out of very attractive 80-year-old probably locally-made fired red brick, and its wood components are traditionally-built assemblies, with actual tree wood in solid profiles we used to call lumber and mill work. Such things are still made, but only the very rich can afford them. Why would we throw something so valuable away?
Just because some fool painted it and did a bunch of sloppy remodeling is no reason to throw it away. If we fix it and turn back the remodeling clock to 1936 in the process, we will have an architectural treasure: standing in the park largely made of the original materials which we could not hope to replace at any reasonable cost, looking wonderful, and reminding us that America was once a great nation populated with carpenters and masons who were skilled and principled craftsmen of a high order.
We will walk through it and remember that it was in those rooms that Americans of every race met and socialized and shared a love of golf more than they valued the segregation that separated them everywhere else. We will be reminded of the power of our American social contract to create the WPA, to restore the American economy, and lift Americans out of the ditch that greed and unregulated capitalism had thrown us into. And we will be reminded of the care that was taken to invest beauty and quality into our public investments in the commons. If you seriously think today’s Parks department is up to matching that in new construction in 2012, please send me some of whatever you are smoking.
Anything they build new and cheaper would be made out of glued-together wood flakes and cheesy cladding products made out of vinyl-skinned foamed plastic and sawdust cement slurry. The enclosure detailing would undoubtedly be the usual leaky hollow section, nail-on flange windows and pseudo-rainscreens we see being tented and repaired all over town. I see so much of that all over everywhere; do we have to go out of our way to wipe out all remaining vestiges of well-built buildings that remain? That clubhouse has stood there for barely 75 years—it is just getting warmed up! All it needs is a little respect and responsible maintenance, and it will outlast and outperform whatever they build new.
George Robertson is a Beacon Hill resident of more than twenty years, an architect, an artist, an occasional writer of often incendiary rants that annoy the neighbors, and a daily user of Jefferson Park.
Photo by Joel Lee. After this photo was posted, we discovered that the BHB editor is in fact pictured here---if you look closely, you can see a small person standing on the other side of the park bench. Joel did not know she was there.Photo by Robinette Struckel.Photo by Wendi Dunlap.Photo by Wendi Dunlap.
Bassetti Architects is designing a new golf clubhouse in historic Jefferson Park on Beacon Hill. The project is funded through City bonds. In a meeting on December 15 to discuss the plans, participants were left wondering: who is Bassetti designing the new golf facilities for?
The 1936 golf course clubhouse building. Photo by Mark Holland.
Local golfers are unhappy that the first hole on the short-nine course will be eliminated to build a parking lot. Golfers also don’t like the loss of the historic putting greens to a replacement that is only 60% of the size. There will be no more men’s and women’s locker rooms at this historic municipal facility. Instead, the operator, Premier Golf, will get a big banquet room that they can rent out. Exactly how the new facility will be run and who will get to access to spectacular views from the driving range, second floor balcony, banquet room, and new restaurant will all be left up to the private contractor to decide in the future.
The current clubhouse was built by the WPA in 1936. The golf community in Southeast Seattle calls Jefferson its home course and they are proud of the history of its diverse membership and activities, including teaching youth how to golf. The building, landscaping, and putting greens all reflect the Olmsted design and are a strong reminder of the history of the place. Recently reconstructed, Jefferson Park itself features Olmsted style curved pathways and many other nods to its history.
The new clubhouse design boasts green engineering (if they can afford to build it), 50 driving range stalls, better lighting, and a new restaurant. It also features boxy modern design, and strong angular walkways, reminiscent of a suburban office park. The overall impact of the two-story facility is very much out of character with the historic setting and important functional features are lost. Attendants of the meeting voiced these concerns. They were less impressed with trendy green features (rain gardens, passive HVAC, potential solar power generation and water collection systems) and more concerned about preserving functional pieces, like the historic putting greens, pedestrian paths, trees, and the nine-hole golf course.
The Interbay golf course clubhouse, of similar size and scale to the planned new clubhouse at Jefferson Park. Photo by Mark Holland.
It seems clear that the project is not being designed for the local golf community at Jefferson but for the private operator who hopes to bring in more money from people with deeper pockets than the south end neighbors. Putting greens don’t generate revenue for the operator and the nine-hole probably doesn’t contribute either. This explains the lack of emphasis on the historically important putting greens and nine-hole where kids and amateurs alike learn to use a club and the elders can gather, sit on the bench, and place side bets on the action. There is too much parking lot in the design, which makes one think perhaps the private vendor anticipates a revenue source there in the future.
Range Rover parked on pathway near the clubhouse. Parks plans to cut down three trees here and move the fence and pathway to install six parking spaces right where this SUV is parked. Photo by Mark Holland.
This design needs to be less about Premier Golf and Parks Department fanciful dreams of generating greater revenues by glitzing up municipal golf courses on the surface. It needs to be more about the Jefferson Park golf community, the history of the facility, integration with the surrounding park, maintaining functionality, and issues of longevity (including decrepit maintenance facilities visible inside the new park and completely unaddressed in this very expensive project).
There are many potential benefits of improving the Jefferson golf course facilities but this design is not endearing. Bassetti will not be producing an acclaimed facility if they recommend spending money on gimmicks like expensive solar collectors over building better putting greens. They won’t be applauded for removing locker rooms and replacing them with private banquet facilities, nor for bringing in tourists and failing to keep the local golfers on the home course.
Frederica Merrell was the North Beacon Hill neighborhood planning co-chair from 1998-2000, and is the co-author of Seattle’s Beacon Hill, featured in the sidebar of this very blog.
When Greenwood Market is forced to close early next year to make room for an expanded Fred Meyer, one of its managers is hoping to convince ownership to open a new location in a South Seattle neighborhood.
The manager, who lives in Columbia City, asked community council leaders in South Seattle to see what residents think about a new grocery store in their area, pointing out the old Eagles Hall location at Corson and Michigan as one potential site, according to an email from Georgetown Community Council Chair Patty Foley.
The Greenwood Market manager invited anyone with an opinion on a new South Seattle grocery store to email Bill Weymer or Jim Huffman at Town & Country Markets, owner of Greenwood Market.
In her email, Foley asked residents to weigh the benefits of a large, new grocery store in the neighborhood versus what that could mean for smaller neighborhood stores.
Though the Greenwood Market manager is hoping for a new location in South Seattle, Town & Country Markets has not officially committed to a new store or made any decisions regarding future locations.
The Greenwood Market will close when its lease expires early next year to make way for an expansion of the neighboring Fred Meyer, located at 100 N.W. 85th St. The Greenwood Market site will become Fred Meyer’s new home-and-garden center.
The city approved Fred Meyer’s construction permit in September, and Fred Meyer hopes to start work in early 2013.
In addition to Greenwood Market, Town & Country Markets owns the Ballard Market and Town & Country Market on Bainbridge Island.
Two youths were robbed of a cell phone at gunpoint Friday morning in Mid-Beacon Hill, according to the Seattle Police Department.
The victims were walking near Beacon Avenue South and South Brandon Street at 8:30 a.m. when a man in his 20s approached them and took out a silver handgun, according to police.
The man took a cell phone from one of the victims and ran off, according to police.
The victims didn’t call police until they got to Cleveland High School about 20 minutes later, but officers were able to locate a man matching the description of the robber in the area.
Officers found a gun on the man, but it wasn’t the gun described by the victims, and neither of the victims was able to positively identify the man as the robber, according to police.
The man was arrested and booked into Youth Services Center regardless because of the gun, according to police.
Neighbor Dayna writes about a scary situation near 13th and Snoqualmie on Tuesday night:
“While walking home from the bus at 6:45pm Tuesday night, my neighbor (40ish-something male) was jumped and beaten with a baseball bat by about a half-dozen teenage boys. The boys didn’t rob him, but laughed as they were swinging the bat at his head before jumping in a car that was waiting for them. He was only a block away from his house, which by the way is also just a few blocks from Maple park and Maple school. It has shaken up our neighborhood. We’ve also had a few home break-ins this past week, more than usual back to back, but the violence against our friend and neighbor has hit us all hard. We’re just not sure what could have been done differently in this situation… A grown man, walking home from the bus in the early evening, attacked by young men while laughing. We’re just not sure what to think about this.”
Also in crime, we’ve been hearing about a few car prowls and burglaries in the last few weeks on the neighborhood mailing lists and in emails to the Beacon Hill Blog. Neighbor Josh writes:
“I wanted to report two of our cars at [the 2000 block of] S Horton St were broken into last night [11/15]. Both driver side windows were shattered and the cars were rummaged through with no significant items taken. I can’t count how many times our cars have been broken into but it’s unfortunate. We leave nothing valuable in the car but it seems to keep happening. Just wanted to get this info out to everyone.”
Another neighbor wrote in late October:
“Prowlers broke into both of my cars. 1 car on Monday night, and came back on Tuesday for wife’s car, alarms went off both times. Nothing much taken just an empty backpack.”
Some folks in the 1900 block South Lander Street must be feeling unsafe right now. On November 12, their residence was burglarized for the second time in two months. The burglar(s) got away with four credit cards, and promptly used one of them at Nike Town ($700+) and Starbucks ($200). Anyone in the area sporting new shoes and a new espresso machine?
Amazing views greet cyclists on the Mountains-to-Sound Trail. Photo by Willie Weir.by Willie Weir
(This article is cross-posted, with permission, from the blog Yellow Tent Adventures. — Ed.)
Recently ribbons were cut and speeches were made at the opening of the new segment of the Mountains-to-Sound Trail. Any additional trail miles that provide needed access for bikes and pedestrians is cause for celebration. Except that the Mountains-to-Sound Trail now officially ends at a blind corner of a very steep hill.
Holgate, which rises to and descends from Beacon Hill, is legendary on this side of the city. It is the type of road that even some seasoned cyclists choose to avoid. If you are descending it from the top of Beacon Hill, you can easily hit 40mph without a single pedal stroke. You just take the lane and fly. The road crosses I-5, and at this point as a cyclist, you need to be hyper-aware as you dump out onto the left lane of traffic. Cars turning from Airport Way S. are speeding to make the light at 6th Ave. S. Many motorists like to make a left hand turn across your path as they exit the Office Depot. And the road surface is a photo op for the “repave our streets†campaign.
On the way up Holgate you are in a narrow lane with a high curb on your right as you climb over I-5. The thought that a car clipping you could send you catapulting onto the freeway is enough to have many cyclists choose to ride on the left hand sidewalk and then cross over at the blind corner as the sidewalk ends. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?
Can you imagine parents riding their bikes along with their two young kids tackling any or all of this? It sounds rather nightmarish.
And yet it is a possibility. The Mountains-to-Sound Trail is a separated recreational path. The type of trail that is desirable for riders and walkers who aren’t comfortable in traffic. The recently opened extension expands the trail from 12th Ave. S. to Holgate. The path is a delight and offers beautiful vistas of downtown Seattle. I had a hard time wiping the grin off my face the first time I rode it.
The end of the Mountains to Sound Trail at the blind corner of Holgate and Beacon Ave. S. Photo by Willie Weir.My grin faded at Holgate. The sign simply reads, “End. Mt. to Sound Trail†That’s it. No more information.
What is the family with their two kids going to do? They’ll look at the option of crossing the road at the blind intersection and climbing the steep hill to their left. But what’s up there? They don’t know, because they are visiting from Spokane or Missoula and they don’t know that at the top is the business district of Beacon Hill with a light rail station, bus connections, stores, restaurants, a library, and a huge park. No, to them it’s just a big scary hill to destinations unknown.
Then they’ll look down the hill and think, “The Sound is that way.†They’ll opt to walk their bikes down the sidewalk because the hill is steep and their kids are scared. This is good. Because that sidewalk ends in a flight of stairs. To their credit, SDOT has posted a sign regarding this about 200 feet before impact.
The sidewalk down Holgate quickly becomes a stairway, dangerous for bikes. Photo by Willie Weir.Now our visiting family is stuck. Because to continue forward means having to lift their bikes onto a narrow road with speeding traffic and “take the lane, kids.†Beyond this dangerous move there is no signage letting them know that they are three blocks away from the bike path that runs parallel to light rail.
But I’m guessing at this point our family will opt to turn around and push their bikes back up the sidewalk. The kids will be crying and Mom and Dad will think, “This is unsafe and crazy.†They will finally reach the trail and backtrack from whence they came.
What the family doesn’t know is that the Mountains-to-Sound Trail will eventually be completed. There will be a switchback trail that crosses under the freeway and connects to the bike trail and light rail station at Royal Brougham. But construction of that section isn’t even scheduled yet… so it’s years away.
In the meantime, information needs to be posted that gives everyone an option. Experienced city traffic cyclists can take a right at Holgate and shoot into the Sodo District or take a cautious left and climb to the Beacon Hill business district. Others can backtrack and follow the bike route signs to downtown, or be routed that way to begin with.
The dangerous conditions at the blind curve where Holgate becomes Beacon Ave. S. need to be addressed. This is now more important than ever! This is one of the few accessible routes up to Beacon Hill and it should be made safe for everyone.
The Mountain-to-Sound Trail extension is great! It will be better when it is finished (South Seattle’s missing link?). But until then, we need signage that explains the current conditions, and improvements that give everyone safe options. Without them, the ride doesn’t end well.
Just before 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, officers got a call about a man with a gun along the 1500 block of Cherrylane Place South. Emergency dispatchers say the caller reported the man had been arguing with his neighbors and had pointed a handgun at one of them standing by a window inside a house.
Police say the suspect made a firing motion with the gun and then placed it behind his back and walked back inside his home.
Officers set up a perimeter around the suspect’s home and began efforts to get him to come outside without the gun. The man was unresponsive to officers’ requests, so hostage negotiations and SWAT were called to the scene.
After six hours of negotiating with the man, he finally agreed to surrender. He was placed under arrest at 11:00 p.m. and taken to the South Precinct.
