Come meet the SWAT team!
On September 15th, from 1 to 4, the South Precinct of SPD is inviting community members down to hang out with the cops and check out some of the local speciality units. The captain plans to be there - I couldn't turn down a tour of the precinct. I'm kind of hoping they let us put on the swat gear and fire tear gas...I've always wanted to do that.
The neighborhood is chattering with the latest news - is there an arsonist in Columbia City?
The latest SPD South Precinct Email Community Newsletter from August 24 reads:
Recent Arson Activity
Once again, there has been recent arson activity we want to bring to your attention. In the past week there have been several probable Arsons.
On Monday, 8/20/07 at about 1:30am, unknown suspect(s) set fire to the back porch of an occupied residence on the 4500 block of South Alaska St. An attempt was made to set fire to the front porch as well. The suspect(s) also entered the back yard of the neighboring house to the south and dropped burning matches onto the wooden deck attached to the rear of the house. Two previous residential arson incidents in this neighborhood are still under investigation by the Arson/Bomb Squad and have similarities to this incident.
4/2/07, approximately 11pm: 4600 Block of 43rd Ave. South. Single-family residence. $500,000 loss; unknown person(s) used hand held flame to ignite combustibles on exterior of structure.
4/8/07, approximately 1:45am: 5900 Block of 51st Ave. South. Single-family residence. $400,000 loss; unknown person(s) applied an ignitable liquid to exterior of home and lighted the same with an open flame.
At this time there is no solid evidence linking these incidents. However, there are similarities:
- Houses were situated on corner lots with easy access to the back yards
- The fires were started using available materials present
- The fires were started at the rear of each structure at ground level underneath enclosed but accessible areas
- The houses were occupied at the time.
The victims in each reported no prior threats, and know of no reason they might have been targeted. There have been no witnesses located. There is no suspect information at this time.
Also early Monday, 8/20/07, at approximately 12:30pm, there was a fire at an apartment complex on the 3900 Block of S. Hudson ST. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, but initial indications are that the origin of the fire was suspicious in nature.
8/21/07 at approximately 3am, Fire fighters and police responded to a possible arson on the 1900 Block of 23rd Ave S. The building was a vacant warehouse. There are no indications of anyone being injured as a result of the fire.
The Seattle Police Department Arson/Bomb Squad is doing the follow-up investigation of all the above incidents. If you have any information that may prove useful to the investigations, please contact 206.684.8980.
The admiral and I think this is probably a bunch of kids with nothing better to do - it'll be interesting to see if these incidents slow down/stop once school starts again (although not necessarily - do kids who like starting fires also attend school regularly?)
At any rate, keep your eyes peeled, and as the SPD says, if you keep any materials outside that could start fires, consider moving them inside.
According to Tracy Wolpert, CEO, "While this decision to eliminate plastic shopping bags will entail some additional cost, it's simply the right thing to do. We have studied the environmental impact of paper versus plastic and believe that paper is the more sustainable choice, while bag reuse is the best choice of all."
Starting tonight at 10pm the Washington State Department of Transportation will shut down several lanes on northbound I5 from Spokane Street to I-90. This will inevitably result in a flood of traffic into our neighborhood - are you prepared?
If you look at some of the information that the Seattle Times has posted, it looks like most of the traffic will initially be routed to surface streets west of I-5, most notably Airport Way. But it doesn't take an expert to know that alternatives like MLK, 23rd, Lake Washington Blvd, and even our precious Rainier, will be quite busy too.
The only message the Captain wants to give everybody is to make sure you slow down in the neighborhood! Inevitably our neighborhood streets will see extra traffic from frazzled commuters looking to save time and move faster than they could on streets such as Rainier. Make sure you slow down and be careful in those intersections with bad sightlines.
Other than that, to get your fix on the I5 closure situation, check out some of these links:
Are you a new parent? Or perhaps you're just somebody who loves to hear the siren sounds of babies crying. If either of those describe you, then Columbia City Cinema has the answer for you!
The 2pm show every Tuesday is specifically for parents and their crying babies! Watch a movie with your kid, and other parents from the neighborhood. A couple of other cinemas around town do this (the Captain was just talking with a friend who drives all the way from Ballard to Lincoln Square in Bellevue for their version of this, since their local Ballard cinema stopped) to rave reviews from parents.
So go check out the Bourne Ultimatum this Tuesday with your little one, and consider the future for your child.
Looking for some things to keep you busy this weekend? There's lots going on the surrounding area this weekend:
The "Night Out" block party is tonight!
Sponsored by the City of Seattle (see <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/police/Nightout/Default.htm">here</a>), Night Out is supposed to be a chance to "take back the streets", but is really just a great way to meet all of your neighbours!
Starting tonight at 7, on 44th Ave S between S Ferdinand and S Hudson Streets you can come on down and see whos who. As Iris Antman says on our local wiki (you knew Columbia City had a wiki, didn't you?):
Please bring something for the grill and a side dish, dessert, or drink to share.
Bring chairs or blankets, whatever you prefer to sit on.
Bring kids' bikes, scooters, skates, street games, chalk, face paint. Oh, and bring the kids, the siblings, the parents, and your friends. Any other ideas?
We heartily encourage you to bring your instruments and voices!
But wait, not sure if you want to go to Ferdinand and S Hudson? Don't worry, you have lots of other choices:
4800 Blk S Ferdinand ST^, Between 48th & 49th Ave S (6-9pm)
5200 Blk 57th Ave S, Between S Dawson ST & S Brandon ST (6:30-9pm)
4500 Blk S Luclie ST, Between Rainier Ave S & 46th Ave S (7-9pm)
3900 Blk S Hudson ST, Between 39th & 42nd Ave S (6:30-9pm)
4800 Blk 44th Ave S (6-9pm)
3900 Blk S Americus ST, Between 39th and 42nd Ave S (6-8pm)
3200 Bklk S Hudson ST, Between MLK & 35th Ave S (Unknown time)
3200 Blk S Ferdinand ST, Between MLK & 35th Ave S (6-9pm)
5000 Blk 45th Ave S, Between S Hudson ST & S Dawson ST (5-9pm)
4700 Blk S Lucile ST, Between 47th & 48th Ave S (6-8pm)
4400 Blk S Findlay ST, Between Rainier Ave S & 46th Ave S (6:30-9pm)
3600 Blk S Lucile ST, Between MLK & 37th Ave S (6:30 – 9:30)
See you out there tonight!
Just wanted to say a quick hi to Broadway Seattle. They share a birthday with the Captain - first post was Friday the 3rd. Here's to a great first year of neighbourhood blogging!
I used to live over near Broadway, down closer to Roanoke. I still have fond memories of the Roanoke Tavern...
I checked out Seafair yesterday, first time I've actually made it out since I've lived in the neighbourhood. From what I've heard about previous Seafairs, this was pretty standard.
As expected, parking was a bit of a nightmare:
Which meant there were lots of people:
All over the place:
I actually managed to get a pit pass (ah, the glories of free tickets), so I wandered down there first. The pits were literally packed full of people. Some were busy:
and some were not:
Of course, Seafair is all about the BIG BLOODY ENGINES. So there were a couple on display:
But it's also all about the boats. I managed to get there before the first unlimited heat, so got a couple of pictures of boats being put into the water:
Which was closely followed by the racing:
The racing, frankly, wasn't my thing. I'm much more of a sailboat person (there's a reason I'm a Captain). However, I can commiserate with at least some of the pit crews, some of which weren't very happy with their performances:
All told, it was a pretty loud experience, and the races were over very quickly. I'm amazed that people pay decent money ($25 to get in, another $10 for the pit pass) to sit on shore very far away from the boats and peer out at them. I couldn't even tell who was leading, and I watched races from just about everywhere to see if there was just a good perspective I was missing.
I don't think I was alone though - the biggest reaction I heard from the crowd was a cheer when a boat flipped. I figure it was one of the few things the crowd could see from shore and actually identify themselves without waiting for the radio announcer to tell them what's going on.
(the driver was fine)
On my way out, I experienced much more of what I find truly distasteful about Seafair - the brazen efforts by the military to pimp itself out:
All this just because of some stupid, loud, air planes buzzing our houses.
The worst part about this is that even though the blue angels get all the press and attention, their air show is really quite boring. It's just not exciting to watch planes for a second or two before they whip out of your field of view. By far the more interesting (and way more skilled in my opinion) is Sean Tucker, who flies a biplane. He's a part of Team Oracle, and does some extremely amazing stuff. All over water, all in a nice and quiet plane, and all within view of the crowd, all the time.
I saw enough from this day that I don't think I need to go back again. If I'm forced to, I should probably take a page out of the books of those who do it every year, like the Seattle Police Department - bring chairs and a paper.
Or one step better, as the folks who live along 43rd ave S demonstrate - a chair, a sign, and a cooler full of cold drinks to sell.
Columbia City originally started as an outpost for timber harvesting, the year after the Great Seattle Fire that took out most of downtown Seattle. J. K. Edmiston built an electric railway into Rainier Valley, bought up 40 acres of timber, cleared it, and then started promoting the town of Columbia.
Back then Columbia City consisted of the newly cleared 40 acres, dense timberland where it hadn't been cleared, and a marshy slough known as the Wetmore Slough.
With so much timber around (and so much demand for it both in Seattle and soon in San Francisco after the great earthquake and fire of 1906), Columbia City's first commercial business was a lumber mill (below picture). The lumber mill was setup after the railway, which ran along what is now Rainier Avenue S, was completed 2 years after it was started.
Columbia City officially became a town in 1893, with 66 citizens filing the incorporation paperwork with King County. Before this point, it was known only as Columbia - but the founders could see Movie Theatres and La Medusa's in their heads. They quickly renamed it to Columbia City.
In 1905 Columbia City residents resisted annexation to Seattle, hoping to retain control over their clean record of not having a saloon within their city limits, but in 1907, under increasing pressure, the city approved annexation. On May 3, 1907, Columbia City became part of Seattle.
That didn't stop our dreams of becoming a port on Lake Washington though. The benefits would be many, but the challenges were large. The best prospect was a plan to actually cut a channel through Beacon Hill from the sound to Lake Washington. It was hoped this would have the side effect of making Wetmore slough more navigable. However, all dreams died when the lake level dropped 9 feet with the completion of the Montlake Cut. What was once the slough is now Genesee Park.
Next Time: From the 1900's to today.
Hello all you Columbia City neighbours! Welcome to Captain Columbia City! The Captain has been wandering Columbia City now for almost three years, and while we've seen a couple of other neighbourhood blogs pop up in the time (CHS, Ballard, BellTown, Miller Park, and of course West Seattle) there's been nothing for Columbia City! Imagine, a neighbourhood that was once it's own city, and we get nothing!
Well, the Captain is here to change all that. Starting today, the first friday of seafair, as all of us alternate between ducking when the blue angels fly over, drinking beer on our decks or at one of many of our fine drinking establishments while listening to the races, or looking disdainfully on all the drunk people as they stagger back to their cars at the end of the day, the Captain is here to help get the word out on what's happening in Columbia City.
I know the blog isn't much to look at yet, we're working on a spiffy new design complete with a likeness of yours truly, but I just couldn't hold up the posts anymore waiting for the design.
The Captain roams Columbia City and environs east towards Andrews Bay/Seward Park. Anything neighbourhood related is fair game. Over the next week or two look for posts on
This is your neighbourhood blog as much as it's the Captain's - what do YOU want to see on this blog?
