Reminder - Monday Weekly Walk

We will be meeting tonight at 7pm at the corner of 125th and 26th for the Monday night walk. 

In the coming weeks as it gets lighter out, we will be looking into working with Seattle Neighborhood Group to evaluate our neighborhood using CPTED criteria. Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith spoke highly of this program and it sounds like a great way to help reduce nuisance behaviors by making alterations to the built environment. More on this later.

Thanks to everyone who has helped out with this. See you tonight.

Old 39 Survey Results

Here are the results of the Old 39 Survey.

 

Rockhounds to take over Community Center this weekend, you are invited

A photo from the 2009 show at the Lake City Community Center.

Admittance to the show is free.

The weekend, March 17th and 18th, the Lake City Community Center will be the site of the annual  North Seattle Lapidary and Mineral Club's rock show.

The annual event is a showcase of minerals and rocks gathered from around the world. The free event will feature rock and mineral displays, demonstrations, activities for youth, rock and mineral dealers, a silent auction, hourly door prizes and a scholarship fundraiser.

The show starts at 10:00 a.m. and continues until 5 p.m. both days. 

For more information about the organization you can go to their website:

http://www.northseattlerockclub.org/shows.htm

A rock saw that looks a lot like a prehistoric leprechaun.

Nuisance behaviors in our neighborhood, visual proof

As Douglas Park Cooperative members do our twice-weekly walks we encounter many dangerous, disgusting and downright destructive things done by people in our community that either do not seem to have a stake in our community or do not have respect for our community —and often respect for themselves.

We have taken to documenting some of the things we encounter. These photos are a small sampling of some of the things we have seen in recent weeks. There are many, many more but we do not photo document everything. We also realize that taking pictures of chronic inebriates or drug users could lead to confrontation that we have deemed is wise to avoid.

Below is a sampling of what we regularly see. Keep in mind that we conduct two weekly litter patrols and folks at the UGM shelter also conduct one per week. Other neighborhood groups also conduct patrols and find similar things.

Likely one of the most disturbing was when we found at least four unsecured hypodermic needles in the parking lot of the Seattle Gymnastics Academy, a place that students are likely to run barefoot to their cars after class.

The focus of DPC from day one has been nuisance behaviors, not the often troubled people that are known to do them. That responsibility is more in line with what the Seattle Police Department contributes to our mission. That is why we are pursuing the Alcohol Impact Area as a small part of the complicated puzzle that will better our community.

We potentially have a great neighborhood and DPC wants to help everyone succeed in reaching their potential and overcome their struggles. However, these nuisance behaviors and their results bring down everyone.

 

Needles outside Cedar Park senior apartments

One of the dozens of hypodermic needles found in the neighborhood

A collection of empties on the street

Scene after a stabbing at the 99¢ Etc. store

Shoplifting suspects captured by camera at ACE Hardware

Elliott Bay Brewing Co. is welcomed to the neighborhood

Graffiti in front of Seattle Gymnastics Academy

Another needle in a neighbor's hedge

Shopping cart full of trash and beer cans

More vandalism at the dead end of 28th Ave NE near Seattle Gymnastics Academy

Four Loko cans in Elliot Bay Brewing doorway

Bag used for drugs

Truck vandalized with pink paint stolen from shed at Seattle Gymnastics Academy

Loitering, drinking with about 6 empties at the Chevron gas station

Warning: After this point the images become quite offensive and disgusting. Continue at your own discretion.

Bring food donation to Thursday night meeting at Kaffeeklatsch

As part of our meeting on Thursday night with Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith, Douglas Park Cooperative would like to use the opportunity to collect food for a donation to the North Helpline Foodbank in honor of Jeff Inman, the homeless vet that passed away on our streets last week.

We will have a donation box at Kaffeeklatsch during the meeting so please bring food for our community to share with others in need.

North Helpline has provided a box for the collection and said that their most-needed items are:

Canned tuna, chicken, peanut butter, canned fruits and vegetables, 100% fruit juices, pasta, rice, macaroni, ketchup, mustard, light salad dressings, canned stews, chili, beef stew, chili, chicken noodle, Cheerios, Cornflakes, Grapenuts, Raisin Bran

DPC Meeting Reminder

Douglas Park Cooperative Meeting 

Thursday March 15th, 2012

Time: 7:00pm to 8:00pm

Location: KaffeeKlatcsh  (12513 Lake City Way )

Guest Speaker: Darryl Smith - Deputy Mayor 

The topic of Thursday's meeting is the off premises sale of certain alcoholic beverages. Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith has been invited to speak on this topic, and has said that he will be announcing a proposed policy change from the Mayor’s office regarding this subject. 

There are many strong emotions in regards to this issue and other issues surrounding it in our neighborhood. Due to this, we will be taking written questions prior to the meeting to present to Darryl. No direct questions from the audience as we want to try our best to keep the meeting focused on the Alcohol Impact Area. Feel free to email questions to us in advance to present to Deputy Mayor Smith: douglasparkcooperative@gmail.com

The meeting will be jointly led by Janet Arkill from Families for Lake City and Dave Morris from Douglas Park Cooperative. We will ask as many questions as possible. The remaining questions will be given to Darryl to take with him.

Our goal is to create a community where we can all develop our full potential and help others realize theirs. We want to increase our “social capital” and “self determination." The request to the city for an Alcohol Impact Area is in this context. It provides a restriction on a product that is an impediment to the successful recovery of people suffering from Chronic Public Intoxication. 

We will also be making an additional request to Darryl and other City representatives in the coming months to help us with bringing more civic space and programmed, positive communal activities to this area. These positive communal activities are needed to replace the empty, passive activities that lead to the destructive behaviors that break down the potential of the individual and the community. 

In addition to your questions, we will be accepting food donations to North Helpline in honor of Jeff Inman, the homeless vet that passed away on our streets last week. Please bring your food donations to the meeting. We will have a box there for collection. A list of the items need by the food bank can be found here: http://www.northhelpline.org/howcanyouhelp_foodmoney.html

Meeting Agenda:

7:00 - Call to order. Introductory remarks

7:05 - Darryl Smith

7:20 - Q&A

7:45 - Closing remarks / Meeting adjourned. Help clean up. 

8:00 - Closing time.

Your chance to help: Big pots of soup needed at UGM Shelter

Douglas Park Cooperative member Annie Stocker, owner of Two Dog Yoga, has been delivering and coordinating big pots of homemade soup that are delivered weekly to the Union Gospel Mission Shelter at the Old 39.

For this week's delivery on Thursday, she is making a big pot of yummy chicken noodle matzo ball soup. But Annie, who has been coordinating neighbors and students at her yoga studio for the soup deliveries, needs help.

If you are good in the kitchen here is your chance to help out in our community.

Volunteers that sign up can help by making "the biggest pot of soup you can make —with or without meat," she said. The pots are delivered either Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning before 8 a.m. You can pick up your pot Thursday after 5 p.m.

Annie said no one signed up for the March 22nd soup or the March 29th soup makings and deliveries.

Here is a list of possible recipes via Seattle-based website Allrecipes.com. But don't feel limited. If your grandmother's split pea recipe is close to your heart, why not share it?

If you can help with this important need in our community please contact Annie at annie@twodogyoga.com to sign up for one of the available dates.

Vandals break into Seattle Gymnastics Academy storage, paint car pink

A Toyota pickup was splashed with pink paint Sunday night after vandals broke into the SGA storage shed.

Vandals broke into a storage shed at the Seattle Gymnastics Academy and Seattle Preschool Sunday night. Nothing was noted to be missing from the storage, aside from a few gallons of bright pink and blue paint.

The vandals threw the paint on a pickup truck parked at the dead end of 28th Avenue NE, near NE 130th Street. The paint was also thrown on the street in front of the facility.

By day the dead end on 28th Avenue NE is home to the preschool and the gymnastics school and light indusrial and auto shops.

However at night, it becomes a hangout for drug users and chronic inebriates. People live in cars there at night and are asked to be gone by the time the school starts in the morning.

During recent walks there Douglas Park Cooperative has found hypodermic needles in the parking lot of the school —an area where students are likely to run barefoot to their cars after class.

Graffiti on a fence in front of SGA

Human feces and toilet paper are regularly found there are as high volume alcohol containers, used condoms, trash and graffiti. A fence in front of the SGA property has long had graffiti on it.

The City of Seattle recently replaced the 'Road End' and 'No Parking' sign at the end of the street after is was reported by DPC to be graffiti-covered and falling over.

Neighborhood home burglarized while occupied early today, suspect arrested

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About 5:30 a.m. this morning a woman in our neighborhood discovered a man in her house. She confronted him and he responded “I’m in the wrong house!” and left.

The woman called police and officers found the man about a block and a half from the residence.

As the suspect was being detained, officers found some of the victims property in the man's possession. She was later able to positively identify him as the man she saw in her house.

The 48 year old man was arrested and booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Burglary.  North Precinct Burglary detectives responded to the scene and processed the scene as part of their investigation.

This is another in a string of recent burglaries of North Seattle homes that are occupied at the time of the burglary. Recently officers arrested a teenager with a long history of crime in connection with some of the occupied burglaries.

Burke-Gilman Trail to reopen today with celebration

Tuesday the popular Burke-Gilman trail will reopen after being closed since the summer of 2011. A celebration is planned in nearby Lake Forest Park from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., featuring a ribbon cutting, prizes and fun. The gathering will be at the intersection of NE 165th St and the
Burke-Gilman Trail.

The redevelopment project improved the safety of the trail by widening it to a 12-foot trail with soft surface shoulders, enhanced traffic controls and intersection and crossing treatments. The trail also features lighting, a new stormwater system, retaining walls, slope stabilization, replacement of the Lyon Creek Bridge, and installation of native vegetation.




More info can be found here: www.kingcounty.gov/burkegilmantrail.

In other two-wheeled news, Columbia City's popular Bike Works program may be coming to Lake City.

Note: You may have noticed many bicycle-related posts here on this blog recently. It is not by design, just happens that there is much going on in the neighborhood related to two wheels the last couple of days. Send us your story ideas at: douglasparkcooperative@gmail.com