West Seattle, Washington
08 Tuesday
Sorry to report that we had the wrong information on our calendar – the Art Under $100 sale in South Park is actually TONIGHT, 4 pm-10 pm, not during the day. From the announcement:
South Park artists will knock your socks off with original, edgy works not seen at a typical holiday sale. What’s more, everything is affordable, with nothing priced over $100. The event will showcase a diverse array of art including painting, sculpture, neon, jewelry, clothing, photography, glass, letterpress, and more. Local musicians Mark Johnson (Amateur Radio Operator) and Kevin Suggs (Evangeline, Amateur Radio Operator, KEXP) will sculpt an ever-changing atmospheric sound-scape throughout the event. Sip wine, feast on appetizers, and actually enjoy holiday shopping. A mysterious masked bugle boy will blow his horn every half hour to announce art raffles donated by the participating artists. Raffle tickets will be available for $2 each or 3 for $5
The South Park sale is at the Old Fire Station in SP, 8201 Tenth Ave. South; here’s a map; participating artists (and more!) are listed on the website for South Park Arts.
Earlier this week, we mentioned the search for a man accused of stabbing his ex-wife to death in the Rainier Valley. One of the victim’s neighbors is Amber Campbell, who operates an independent neighborhood-news site, the Rainier Valley Post. Amber has just sent this out and we want to help spread the word:
Friends & neighbors,
Most of you already know that earlier this week, my neighbor Noemi Lopez – the mother of three beautiful children, 15-year old Karina, 13-year old Alandra and 6-year old Alex – was killed by her ex-husband. Angel has confessed to the murder and remains on the run. The children are staying with relatives but they have been unable to return to their home for clothes, school supplies, personal belongings, etc. Can you help them?
I am personally keeping in touch with the family on a regular basis to keep tabs on their needs and deliver the outpouring of sentiments, blessings and donations. So far neighbors have contributed money, clothing and a tree to plant in Noemi’s memory.
At this time we are focused on helping the children with clothing, school supplies and gifts for the holidays, as well as the crime scene clean-up costs that will range somewhere in the area of $1,000 – $5,000.
The Rainier Valley Post has established a fund specifically for the Lopez Children and we would all be very grateful for whatever you can spare to help these poor kids during the most horrible time of their lives. No amount is too small.
The “donate” button is atop the right sidebar on the RVP homepage; find it here. And as Amber has written in a different post – keep watch over your neighbors for signs of domestic violence, not just the other crimes we hear about almost every day. To this date, there has been only one murder in West Seattle this year … domestic violence … a woman killed by her husband, who then killed himself. Meantime, the Rainier Valley suspect remains on the run – his photo, and links to other info, are here.
It didn’t happen in West Seattle, but it wasn’t very far away, and police are casting a citywide (even regional) net for a murder suspect on the loose, so we are helping distribute this photo and information: Shown at left is 39-year-old Jose Angel Blanco, AKA Jose A. Blanco-Naranjo, suspected of killing his ex-wife, 32-year-old Noemi Lopez, a mother of three, yesterday in the Rainier Valley. If you have any idea where he might be, call 911. Read more here about his description; read more here about what happened (as told by neighbor Amber Campbell, an acquaintance of ours because she runs the Rainier Valley Post neighborhood-news site in that area). TUESDAY UPDATE: Police say he has changed cars – latest information here.
If you haven’t already heard – police have arrested the man accused of shooting two teenagers, killing one of them, at Southcenter last Saturday night. 21-year-old Barry Saunders was taken into custody in Portland.
Finally, an excuse to use the photo we took as the holiday merry-go-round near Westlake Center was being set up last weekend! Just got the SDOT traffic alert about holiday 4-day weekend activities including the Friday parade (we’ll be there – never met a parade we didn’t like) and tree lighting/fireworks plus the Seattle Marathon, so here’s the announcement in all its glory:Read More
It’s up on the P-I’s site now: A photo of 21-year-old Barry Saunders, the man wanted for murder and other charges in the Saturday mall shooting (WSB coverage here) that left 16-year-old Daiquan Jones dead, and another teenage boy wounded. He is said to have ties to Kent as well as Tukwila.
(see bottom of this post for added/updated info throughout the evening)
ORIGINAL 4:21 PM REPORT: It’s the closest major mall to West Seattle so this is practically local news: A shooting is reported at Southcenter Mall in Tukwila – at least one person reported to have been hit. We are monitoring some of the scanner traffic; the search for a suspect/s appears to be continuing. Will add more info/links as we get them; this is the first report. Eerie that it was the pre-Thanksgiving weekend three years ago when the Tacoma Mall shooting happened. 4:33 PM UPDATE: Scanner says it happened “between Mac Store, Banana Republic, and main hallway” and believed to be gang-related. We are also monitoring regional news sources for any new details from scene. Here are some direct links: P-I report, KING5 report, KIRO report, more links when they show up online (here’s the Twitter stream for Southcenter mentions). The Times doesn’t have a separate story yet but its home-page blurb says 2 victims have been taken to Harborview Medical Center; scanner traffic a few minutes ago also mentioned 2 victims. 5:01 PM UPDATE: KING says the person who shot 2 men at the mall is NOT in custody at this point; officers are continuing to search the mall in case he’s still in there. 5:22 PM UPDATE: First eyewitness account we’ve found is in a Daily Kos “diary,” of all places. “exiledfromTN” wrote:
Long story short, we were upstairs when we heard the shots. The mall was packed with people, and when the first shot went off, my Memphis upbringing told me immediately the noise was too loud to be anything else but shots. Everyone is looking around as if they’re all thinking, “WTF was that?” Then shots two and three go off, and there’s no question.
Times now has a standalone story, which says two other people were hospitalized besides the shooting victims – including “a pregnant woman who went into labor.” 6:06 PM UPDATE: Witness doing a phone interview on KIRO says it started after a fistfight between a group of young men who the witness said “looked 18, tops.” The two victims are described as “late teens/early twenties.” 7:06 PM UPDATE: One of the victims has died, according to the Times. 7:42 PM UPDATE: “WesCAddle” reports this in the comment section below:
We were there. In watching a movie at the new theater when about 30 minutes into it, they turned on all the lights and an usher came in and announced that we all needed to evacuate the mall. When we got out into the lobby of the theaters, the big metal gate was closed and we were told we would not be allowed to leave the theater. After about 10 minutes of standing around in the lobby (and watching police with automatic rifles running all over the place on the other side of the gates) the theater operators told us we could go back in and finish watching the movies, since it would probably be a while before we could leave.
Needless to say, we returned to the movie and finished it. When the movie ended they began letting people leave, and traffic was a nightmare. The police response was huge outside and inside the mall.
It was better than the movie.
ADDED 9:29 PM: We have an even more harrowing account from WSB’er “Jack Loblaw”:
My wife and I were at the Starbucks at Southcenter when the shooting occurred. We used to target shoot for hobby and knew by the second round fired that it was gunfire. Out daughter and her girlfriend ( 13 years old ) were at the theatre seeing “Twilight”. We ran for our lives. I looked back and saw that my wife had ran into Starbucks which was a trap with no way out. I ran back knowing that I could be shot and pulled her out and ran faster than I have ever run before. We got outside and I called 911. It took 45 seconds or more for them to answer. I told then that we were at Southcenter and 5 shots had been fired inside the mall. They said that there were multiple reports and that they were on it.
We were on the first floor and our kid was in the theatre on the top floor. We snaked our way up stairs and got to the theatre. There were just locking the doors of the theatre when we got there. I told them that our kids were inside and that we were not going to be locked out from them. They let us in; as I stood watch my wife searched theaters for the kids. They finally evacuated all the theaters but would not let us leave the lobby. They told us to go back into a theatre to which I replied “F-Off ” I just was in the line of fire and I refuse to be trapped in a box with no way to run.” We were held captive for what seems like an hour. Verizon cell phones DID NOT WORK. I used my AT&T Blackberry to start searching for information. I called a friend on AT&T to get info via the web. Finally we were let out.. There was at least 5 or 6 police officers with fully automatic weapons that we had to pass through on the way out. …
What is wrong with America that it is not safe to take our family to the mall ? We were just remarking 2 minutes before the shooting occurred that Southcenter looked like it had cleaned up its act and that it did not look like gang central — I guess we were wrong. Do we need to be armed to go out in public any more — ???
9:36 PM UPDATE: The person who was killed is identified (per the Times) as 16-year-old Daiquin L. Jones. 15-year-old Jermaine McGowen is the survivor. No arrest reported yet. 10:01 PM UPDATE: Channel 5 says the search inside the mall has just ended, no sign of the killer. 10:43 PM UPDATE: Later in that newscast, a relative of the victim told a reporter that the victim had just gotten out of jail “last Friday” – not clear if that meant yesterday or a week earlier. EARLY SUNDAY UPDATE: Times says Southcenter Mall will reopen today.
(added photos at the bottom of this post)
ORIGINAL POST: The march and rally are happening right now, Capitol Hill to downtown, and Slog has coverage — including these overview photos of the march stretching for blocks. We’re hoping for photos later from West Seattleites who are participating. 2:36 PM UPDATE: Cami uploaded this video from the VERY early going, just as the first people were starting to gather at Volunteer Park:
And she sent this photo (thank you!) of organizer Kyler Powell onstage:
Capitol Hill Seattle also has photos (you have to click through them in the box on the left side of the post). ADDED 7:25 PM: Thanks to WSB Forums‘ Zenguy for sharing these photos – the first one shows you the depth of the Volunteer Park crowd (Zenguy says that’s Ron Sims way up at the stage — we’ll take his word for it; the other two pix show the marchers going through downtown):
ADDED LATE SATURDAY NIGHT: Thanks to Cheryl for sharing these photos taken by Greg Martin of her making a sign, and her and her goddaughter with their signs at the rally:
The WSB Forums thread about the event (discussed before and after) is here. ADDED VERY EARLY MONDAY: Just found this post on the Jew-Ish blog, recounting what Rabbi Michael Latz from West Seattle’s Kol HaNeshamah congregation said at the rally.
In case you haven’t already heard – the votes have been counted, the contract deal is ratified, and the almost-two-month-long strike’s over. A now ex-striker in WSB-land points us to the official announcement on the union website. Some workers go back to work tomorrow.
On partner site White Center Now, we have posted the first part of our story about tonight’s public-safety-budget “town hall” meeting at Steve Cox Memorial Park, and will continue to add to it. For starters, we have video of Sheriff Sue Rahr explaining why she has decided not to close her department’s White Center storefront. She was joined at the meeting by (left to right after the sheriff) Superior Court Presiding Judge Bruce Hilyer, West Seattle-residing District Court Chief Presiding Judge Barbara Linde, and Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, all of whom detailed potential cuts that would affect city residents as well as the unincorporated-area residents who made up most of tonight’s audience.
Not far away, so we’re mentioning it here: 10 am-3 pm. Read more here. (Meantime, if you do business in West Seattle and have a job opening for which you are recruiting candidates right now, remember you can post it free in the West Seattle Jobs Offered section of the WSB Forums.)
Seattle Police just put out a citywide call for public help in identifying the man shown in the sketch at left. The news release says: “On September 25th 2008, at approximately 11:00 p.m., the below-described suspect sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl in the yard of her home in the 2200 block of Northeast 143rd Street. The suspect is described as a white male, 55-60 years old, 5’07-5’10 very skinny build. Hair/beard possibly blondish/gray. Last seen wearing, a navy blue knit cap (recovered at scene). Gray hooded sweatshirt. Dark jeans. Alcohol on breath, dirty. Knife or sharp object in pocket of sweatshirt. ‘Holes’ on forehead/cheeks. (Possibly pock marks, large pores or bumps) Light scar below right eye. Anyone with information about this suspect is asked to call the Seattle Police Sexual Assault Unit at 206-684-5573.”
Not West Seattle-specific, but, especially on a slow news day, worth passing along. We found out about EcoMetro from Twitter,. They linked a tweet pointed to this post kicking off a “sustainability journal,” with tips for saving money and energy. (EcoMetro is apparently related to the Chinook Book; just so happens we mentioned in the Freebies, Deals, Sales forum last night that the West Seattle chapter of CoolMom.org is raising money through Chinook Book sales – find out more here.)
Thanks to tips from eagle-eyed WSB’ers, we were able to tell you yesterday morning about the movie “The Whole Truth,” starring Eric Roberts and “Law and Order”‘s Elisabeth Rohm, shooting in Lincoln Park. Today, we know where they’ve moved on to – our friends at MyBallard.com found them shooting in a more publicly accessible spot right on Ballard Avenue. P.S. The movie’s director, Colleen Patrick, briefly mentioned yesterday’s West Seattle shoot in the newest update on her blog.
We’ve received a few notes from live 911 log-watchers about the “fire in building” callout on Harbor Island, listed as 16th/Lander (map). We heard it was tapped sometime back and didn’t go; there’s no official Fire Department update so far but a P-I blog says it was a pier fire at the former Fisher mill site.
With so much development in West Seattle, many people have asked what can be done to keep historic buildings from being lost. One step: Get educated and find out what’s possible (what’s not). Historic Seattle offers a chance to do just that, just a few weeks from now, and preservation advocate Christine Palmer sent this announcement specifically for you, calling the event a “training opportunity for neighborhood residents to protect what’s left of West Seattle’s heritage” (and other neighborhoods whose residents may choose to participate):
HISTORIC SEATTLE PROVIDES A WORKSHOP FOR COMMUNITY RESIDENTS TO BECOME THEIR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD PRESERVATION EXPERTS
Struggling to understand Seattle’s historic preservation ordinance?
Disturbed by insensitive new construction in your neighborhood?
Seeking procedures for dealing with local historic properties?
Who is on the landmarks board anyway?PROTECTING HISTORIC SITES
Good Shepherd Center
4649 Sunnyside Avenue N., Room 202 (map)
Saturday, October 18, 2008, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Reservations required
$30 admission includes lunchHistoric Seattle will provide the answers to these questions and more at a full-day workshop featuring presentations by local historic preservation experts. Advance reservations are required! Workshop fees are $25 for Historic Seattle members and $30 for the general public. Please register online at:
www.historicseattle.org/events/eventdetail.aspx?id=303Workshop participants will enjoy a lunch delivered to the Good Shepherd Center and receive an extensive packet of useful information about local, state, and national preservation issues and opportunities. The agenda will cover the following topics:
WHAT ARE HISTORIC PROPERTIES? Presenters will provide an overview of Seattle’s diverse and unique historic resources including the distinctions between “eligible” and “designated” sites.
NEIGHBORHOOD SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION. Want to know more about rallying local residents for preservation issues? What should you do if the owner opposes the landmark designation? What are the alternatives to designated historic buildings and neighborhoods? Would a conservation district provide enough protection?
SUCCESS STORIES FROM NEIGHBORS WHO LANDMARKED PROPERTIES IN SOUTH PARK, FREMONT, AND CAPITOL HILL
COUNTY, NATIONAL AND STATE PRESERVATION PROGRAMS. Seattle and King County preservation legislation is different, but how? What are the advantages of listing on the Washington Heritage Register or the National Register of Historic Places?
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES. Help is out there, but you need to find out if your historic building qualifies.
Presenters will include:
Staff for the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board in the Seattle
Department of Neighborhoods
Local Consulting Historians and Architects
Former members of the City Landmarks Preservation Board
Staff from the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation
Staff for the King County Landmarks Commission
Staff from 4Culture
And more!Deadline for registration at the workshop: Wednesday, October 15, 5:00 pm (online registration link)
By the way, if you’re wondering what West Seattle has on the list of official city landmarks – all 14 are shown here.
Just in case you hadn’t heard, it’s the first debate in this fall’s Chris Gregoire vs. Dino Rossi rematch. 9 pm, channel 4, or live online. If you want to discuss it afterward, there’s a governor’s-race topic in the WSB Forums’ 2008 Election section (or start a new topic!).
As mentioned in our report on the last Highland Park Action Committee meeting, the West Seattle fight against two proposed WS city-jail sites is in a bit of a lull now, awaiting the next official stage of the city’s process. However, those closely watching what’s happening in the areas around all of the “final four” sites might be interested to know, there’s a public meeting tomorrow night in Magnolia, focused on the proposed Interbay site, with at least one city councilmember expected to attend.
Since some WSB commenters have pointed out that the mayor has been focusing on bags and trees lately but hasn’t made any major announcements about crime/violence, we feel duty-bound to pass along word of the media advisory we just received – he’s planning an announcement at Garfield HS tomorrow morning about a “new initiative geared to decrease youth violence.” We’ve got WSB commitments closer to home so we won’t be there, but we’ll link city-provided details and citywide coverage when it’s announced.
Quick highlights from the West Seattle Weekend Lineup:
ALL DAY TODAY, AND INTO THE NIGHT: 11 am is the start time for the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza dedication celebration, which continues on into the evening, with the actual dedication ceremony at 1:30 pm; schedule here.
MIDDAY TODAY: The first Grad Night fundraiser car wash of the year for West Seattle High School‘s Class of ’09 is 10 am-2 pm in the school’s parking lot. Bonus for all patrons and volunteers: Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) donated coffee gift certificates!
ALSO MIDDAY TODAY: You’re invited to tour Chief Sealth High School‘s temporary digs at Boren (5950 Delridge; map) and enjoy a barbecue, 11 am-2 pm.
One of the many Boeing workers in WSB-land just forwarded us this word from the union – Machinists are going on strike at a minute past midnight tonight. As has been pointed out, that means a lot of families and potentially businesses affected in our area (and around the Boeing facilities not that far to our east, among others), so we wanted to post it here. This is the page on the union website with details.
If you’re looking out at Puget Sound, toward Bainbridge or northward, early this morning, you might see the USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63; US Navy photo at left) on the last leg of what’s expected to be its final journey: The 47-year-old carrier is expected to tie up around 9 o’clock this morning in Bremerton, where it will be decommissioned (a public ceremony is expected sometime next year). The Kitty Hawk has been sailing up the coast from San Diego, where it stopped last month after a 10-year deployment to Yokosuka, Japan. ADDED 8:59 AM: Gary J got this photo before the Kitty Hawk turned into Rich Passage:
Trouble at the Vashon ferry terminal, described rather simply in this update from Washington State Ferries, but more vividly by Luckie, who writes:
… spent the afternoon at a friend’s house, about a half-mile up the hill from the Vashon ferry dock. Around 3:00 we heard lots of sirens. Then, the KING5 helicopter circling overhead. It turns out a guy in a pickup with a huge trailerload of rusty scrap had come down the hill, lost his brakes, and crashed into a couple of dumpsters right next to one of the ferry slips, pushing a dumpster into the water. He then jumped into the water himself and tried to swim away. We caught the 4:30 ferry, and the pickup and trailer were still there, roped off with yellow tape. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera! This may affect traffic going to Vashon ….
We saw the chopper too; went down to Fauntleroy thinking something might be up, saw only a Vashon aid car rushing away in the downtown direction, now we know why. At Vashon, WSDOT says Slip 2 is temporarily closed; we’ll let you know when it reopens. 6:36 PM UPDATE: WSF says Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth boats are running about half an hour behind because of this.
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