The Seattle Police Department has a new criminal trespass program, which replaces the old program to keep trespassers off the property of businesses that are open to the public .

The Conditions of Entry that must be posted under the new criminal trespass program

According to Officer Scott McGlashan, who explained the program at a community meeting in Ballard Wednesday, an interested business must sign up with SPD and post Conditions of Entry “at or near all public entrances and other areas so the public is provided with notice of those conditions,” the enforcement authorization form states.

“I’ve been getting definitely increases in complaints about trespassing and the homeless,” McGlashan says. Under this new program, police can “warn someone off the property” at any time – the enforcement authorization form allows officers to come onto the property without further consent by the business owner.

One of the big changes is that if a person is “warned off the property,” they can come back to the same establishment the next day as a paying customer. Under the old program, McGlashan says that a person who had been admonished off the property could never go back, or they’d wind up in jail. The new warnings do last for a lifetime, so if a person has been warned, they cannot loiter or trespass at that establishment without facing police action.

Businesses in Queen Anne interested in being part of the program should contact the SPD West Precinct at WPrecinctTrespassProgram@seattle.gov. If a business was part of the old program, they must sign the new authorization form.

Greg Sutton has lived in Queen Anne for over twenty years and has worked at Lower Queen Anne dive bar Streamline Tavern for the better part of the past 17. He’s the bar’s second-longest employee, and tonight he hanging up his bar-keeper hat and saying goodbye to the neighborhood and the community for good. Sutton is closing the book on his life here in the States next week to fulfill a longstanding dream–to retire in Vietnam.

Former PI reporter and co-owner of the Streamline, Mike Lewis, first met Sutton in 2004. He and some other journalists at the paper frequented the bar and got to talking Sutton, who at the time was the bar’s primary tender, working six days a week for most of the years he spend behind the bar.

“I’d been coming in the bar a bit when I was a reporter at the PI, and I got to know him a little bit there, and then I found out that he was teaching himself Vietnamese,” Lewis said. “I thought that was interesting that he was a Vietnam vet and teaching himself Vietnamese. He had been to Vietnam during his service, but then he also had gone back on one trip and had been blown away, both when he was in the military and then when he was there as a civilian.”

Lewis decided to do a story on Sutton for his dive bar column (you can read that story here) and found himself back at the Streamline, chatting with Sutton on a regular basis. One night Sutton started musing that there weren’t enough people tending bar at the establishment, and offered Lewis a part-time job spur of the moment.

“I filled in for him one day a week, and then he came back, and then the regular Thursday night guy quit, so I took over,” Lewis said. “At the time I thought I’d do this for a few months, but that turned into years and eventually led to becoming an owner at the bar.”

In more recent years Sutton,  now 64, has been working three nights a week at the Streamline, as well as a number of day shifts. He’s last day on the bar was Monday, but Lewis has found a sneaky way to get him into the bar tonight for a proper send-off.

“We bought him a laptop and I’m teaching him how to use it, so under the pretense of him coming in for another computer lesson, he’s going to be in the bar,” Lewis says.

While you might spot Sutton hanging around the bar over the next week, as of Wednesday he’ll be off to Vietnam. Lewis invites anyone who’d like to say goodbye to Sutton to swing by the Streamline Tavern any time after 7:30 p.m. tonight.

“We are going to buy Olympia Pizza for the whole bar and will be putting out the big tip jar as a final fund-raiser for him,” Lewis said. Lewis says there’s no chance Sutton will read about the surprise send-off beforehand, as he doesn’t read anything online, but he asks that those planning to attend don’t mention the event to him beforehand—it’s meant to be a surprise.

“I’m definitely going to miss him. I think he’s pretty done with the bar business. It’s not easy if you’re young, but when you get older it can be a pretty demanding—moving the kegs around and all that stuff can wear on you a bit,” Lewis said. “He spent an enormous amount of time in that bar over the last 17 years, so I think he’s ready for a change and he’s ready to spend a lot of time somewhere far away from the bar and from Seattle.”

“I just thought it was a great way to memorialize many years of service,” he added.

The Queen Anne and Interbay farmers markets will be full of festive food-related activities this afternoon at their respective locations. Let’s just hope it doesn’t rain! Check out the schedules for both market below.

At the Queen Anne Farmers Market:

• 4 p.m. – Chef Demo with 5 Spot chefs Anthony and Natalie
• 4 to 4:30 p.m. – Choir Performance with the Queen Anne Performing Arts Market Singers
• 5 to 7 p.m. – Live music by “rockin’ guitar playin’ and singin’ gal” Kate-Lynne Logan
• Check out what’s fresh at the market this week.

At the Interbay Farmers Market:

• 4 to 5 p.m. – Cooking Demonstration with Chef Dan Osser of Whole Foods Market Interbay
• Check out what’s fresh at the market this week.

As always the Queen Anne Farmers Market will take place from 3 to 7:30 p.m. at W Crockett Street and Queen Anne Ave N. The Interbay Farmers Market will take place from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Interbay Urban Center, located at 1819 15th Ave. W.

The Seattle Police Department West Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Francisco Tello sent out this email to members of the community today notifying them of recent burglary activity in the Queen Anne and Magnolia area and providing tips on how to respond and prevent home break-in crime.

Recently there has been some burglary activity on Queen Anne and Magnolia that we like to alert you about.  Some of the burglaries have been non-forced (walk-ins ) the burglar has gained entry by an unsecured door or window.  The forced entries ones, the suspect(s) breaks small window next to front or rear door and unlocks the door to gain entry. Once inside takes laptops, TV’s, checks and miscellaneous items.  All burglaries have been on un-occupied houses between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM. The burglaries and other crime types can be viewed on our “Crime Reporting Map” If you have not visited our “Crime Reporting Map” web site you can accesses it  at http://web5.seattle.gov/mnm/policereports.aspx To view the Police reports you have to subscribe, the incidents listed with a “narrative” will have more detail.  A person of interest related to this activity is a Caucasian male 30-40 years old 5’7 to 6’ tall thin build, scruffy unshaven facial hair.  Dark clothing with a backpack.   Suspicious circumstances reported, a person matching that description knocked at a residence.   The home owner did not answered the front door right away and the person seemed startled when the home owner  open the door.  The person asked the home owner for directions to Interbay.  The home owner asked what part of  Interbay the person could not answer and left right away.  The home owner thought that the person acted suspicious.  About 15 minutes later a burglary was reported several blocks away.  A note about the suspicious circumstances, the house that was targeted is the only house on the block with shrubbery that obstructs clear view from the street.

Our Crime Analysis Detective is aware of the activity as well as the District Officers.  The District Officers are extra attentive to suspicious behaviors, and West Precinct Detectives are actively working the cases.  You can assist us by making sure your doors and windows are secured, work with your neighbors to watch your residence if you are going to be away. Trust your instincts and  report suspicious behaviors or persons to 9-1-1.  A note about calling 9-1-1, when you call 9-1-1 you will be talking to an operator, the operator does not dispatch Officers.  Depending on the nature and priority of the call the operator will be relaying information to a dispatcher.  The operator will ask you questions, please follow the operators questions, it may seem that nothing is happening but again depending on the priority of the call a dispatcher will be relaying information to the responding Officers.  Practice describing people, when calling 9-1-1 in case of an incident good description and direction of travel of the fleeing suspect(s) will be of great help to the responding Officers.  If there is an alley behind your residence, put your address on the alley side as well, this will assist responding Officers locate the correct residence should they approach from the alley..  If you are interested on more prevention tips visit our Seattle Police Department web site.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has announced a proposal for changing state policy to allow cities to allow extended service hours for Seattle nightlife. The plan is part of Seattle’s comprehensive Nightlife Initiative, which aims to maintain public safety and provide businesses with greater flexibility to adapt to the market demands of residents and visitors.

In a nutshell, McGinn’s plan is to stagger closing times at certain bars and clubs to ease the strain on police resources. As it is now, Seattle Police can be stretched thin at 2 a.m. when every bar and club lets out, especially in certain busy business districts, like Ballard, Belltown, Capitol Hill, and even parts of Upper and Lower Queen Anne.

“We’ve talked to the public, we’ve talked to businesses, we’ve talked to neighbors, and this is something the community wants us to do,” said Mayor Mike McGinn

The City Council will hear the resolution in committee on July 19 and a vote to follow soon afterward. The rule change application will be submitted to the Washington State Liquor Control Board (LCB) by August 31. The LCB then has 60 days to decide whether to initiate the rule making process. Mayor McGinn hopes to have extended service hours implemented in Seattle in 2012.

What do you think Queen Anne? Would extending alcohol service hours improve closing-time noise, public safety and the local marketplace for small businesses, or would it have negative effects on the surrounding communities?

The Uptown Alliance’s monthly meeting is taking place from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight, Thursday, July 14 in the Lower Queen Anne Metropolitan Market restaurant space on the far west side of the market. Take a look at the items on the agenda for tonight’s meeting:

• Greetings and introductions
• Adopt Minutes of Last Month’s Meeting
• Round Robin: Current Uptown issues
• Lower Kinnear Park planning and bike/pedestrian connection from Roy Street-end to Elliott Ave. – Debi Frausto, Friends of Lower Kinnear Park
• Seattle Transportation Master Plan (Jennifer Wieland, SDOT)
• Seattle Parks (Department of Parks and Recreation) Strategic Plan – Don Harper, Parks and Open Space Levy Oversight Committee
• Affordable Housing: Funding issues; How affordable housing can fit into Uptown – Rick Hooper
• Committee Reports

1. Parks
2. Planning & Transportation
3. Events

• New Business: bring your own topics and comments.

The next Uptown Alliance meeting will take place on Thursday, September 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Lower Queen Anne Metropolitan Market. There will be no meeting in August. The Alliance’s Planning and Transportation Committee will be meeting on Wednesday, August 3 at 6 p.m. at Metropolitan Market. Metro transit staff will be in attendance to present the draft details on the bike share program, which will include the Uptown area. For more information on this program, contact Rick Hooper at Nsilberg@silberg.net or John Coney (283-2049) at djohnconey@aol.com.

For the next two weekends the Interbay P-Patch, at 2451 15th Avenue West, will be holding a U-Pick Lavender sale.

The sale runs this weekend Saturday, July 16 and Sunday, July 17 and the following weekend Saturday, July 23 and Sunday, July 24 from 10 a.m. to 4p.m. They will have several lavender varieties for culinary, decorative or craft uses. The cost is $3 for a small bunch and $5 for a large bunch. They will also be selling lavender wands, wreaths and sachets.

The City of Seattle moved one step closer to a new kind of street food community on Wednesday when the City Council land-use committee unanimously approved a measure that would allow mobile vendors to park in designated spots citywide.

Currently, vendors have to work out deals with local business owners, which is why you always see food trucks in parking lots or outside local companies. The new guidelines would allow for street food carts to park in specific spaces throughout the city on their own.

With the new legislation would come changes to street food vendor rules as well.

These called for increased parking fees; upping the buffer between sidewalk vendors and business entrances/exits (from 10 to 15 feet) and schools (now 1,000 feet, before it was 200 feet); and notification of nearby property owners. Previously vendors were to notify all owners within 100 feet of their site; now they will have to inform owners on each side of the street as well as those on the adjacent block when the slinger is situated on a corner. The legislation dictates no more than two merchants are permitted per block; if there is little or no commercial activity, that number could increase.

Not everyone is a fan of the proposal. Many restaurants are against the measure as an increase in street vendors could leads to a decrease in customers for them. See the full details here.

The City Council is expected to consider the bill on Monday, July 18.

Depending on who you ask, 400-700 people showed up for last night’s Metropolitan King County Council committee meeting to discuss the proposed cuts in King County Metro bus service.

The main issue of the discussion was the $20 car-tab fee for each of the next two years that is being considered. Without it, Metro says it would need to cut service 17 percent by eliminating some routes and reducing trips.

State lawmakers gave county officials the authority this year to charge an extra $20 for car tabs — which would provide $50 million over two years — to help Metro. When combined with reserve funds, it’s enough to largely maintain existing service, Metro says.

The next step for King County’s nine-member council is to either put it to a vote in the next election or a “supermajority” of six members could enact the new fee without going to the voters.

Unfortunately, only four County Council members attended the transportation committee hearing (Bob Ferguson, Larry Gossett, Joe McDermott and Larry Phillips) while five did not. The four who did attend, however, have already come out in favor of the fee.

There will be one more public hearing on July 21 in Burien at the City Council Chambers, followed by a vote from the King County Councilmembers, scheduled for July 25.

There’s soon to be a new gift and decor store on Queen Anne hill. Three Birds Home and Gifts is setting up shop at 2107 Queen Anne Ave N, right between the Upper QA KeyBank and Twirl Cafe.

I popped my head in yesterday and spoke to owner Robin Johnson about the new store, which she says will be a mix of furniture and unique home decor, and gift items. Johnson, who lives in Seward Park, says she chose Queen Anne for her new business because it’s was “the perfect location,” adding that she searched for a place to open her shop for over a year before finding an ideal spot along the small-business friendly Queen Anne Avenue.

Johnson is planning on opening Three Birds later this month. “I’m shooting for the 23rd,” he said. “But it depends on how things look on the 22nd!”

* Thanks to Mark Taylor for the tip!

Dick’s Drive-In has been running its Change4Charity program at its five Seattle-area locations since 1998, collecting extra change from customers for a variety of local and international causes. Last week the local restaurant chain announced that the program passed the half-million dollar mark, raising over $500,000 collectively between all locations to support Seattle area homeless shelters and disaster relief efforts.

“Those little change boxes have added up to big donations,” Dick’s Drive-In vice president Jim Spady said in a statement. “We want to thank each and every customer who has taken the time to drop their extra burger change into the Change4Charity boxes.”

In the 13 years since the Change4Charity program began, donations have gone toward a number charities, including Compass Housing, Family Support Network, Fare Start, First Place, Mary’s Place, ROOTS, Saint Martin de Porres Shelter, and Seattle Night Watch.

Through the program special donations have also been made to a number of disaster relief efforts. Top months for giving through Change4Charity have included Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in September 2005, relief efforts following the Haitian earthquake in January and February 2010, and aid for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March of this year–the single largest month in donations, in which over $21,000 was raised and directed to Japan through the Seattle Red Cross and World Vision in Federal Way.

Queen Anne-ers were out in full force dressed in red and white for The Comstock Commission‘s Second Annual Running of the Bulls on Saturday, July 9. Reader and runner Chelsea Nesvig snapped a bunch of photos of the run as it made its way from Paragon on Queen Anne Avenue, to Kerry Park on Highland.

Check out the rest of the photos of Running of the Bulls festivities in Chelsea’s Flickr album.

* Thanks to Chelsea Nesvig for taking and sharing these photos!

Don’t forget tonight’s public meeting on proposed bus service cuts by Metro Transit in the wake of severe budget problems, which we reported on last week.

Metro Transit is asking the King County Council for a temporary $20 annual surcharge on licensed vehicles as a stop-gap measure to maintain bus service. Metro has announced that if the council doesn’t approve the surcharge, it will have to cut up to 600,000 service hours – or 17 percent of current bus routes – in 2012 and 2013.

Due to the dramatic recession-driven drop in sales tax revenues, Metro Transit is facing a $60 million annual deficit between revenues and the cost of providing current levels of transit service. That shortfall would require Metro to shrink service by 600,000 hours of annual bus service over the next two years, or 17 percent of the entire system, which is the equivalent of cutting all weekend transit service or all weekday commuter service.

The State Legislature authorized a tool that is available to King County to help maintain Metro service at its current level: a temporary $20 Congestion Reduction Charge on vehicle licenses for each of the next two years. County Executive Constantine has sent that proposal to the County Council as well as two other pieces of legislation:

• An ordinance approving a Congestion Relief Plan, a prerequisite for Council action on a Congestion Reduction Charge.
• An ordinance cutting 100,000 hours of Metro bus service effective February 2012, the first step in reducing bus service by 600,000 service hours.

These cuts would his Queen Anne riders hard, eliminating routes 2 (north of downtown) 4, 15EX, 18, 26, 28, 45, 81 and 82, and reducing and/or revising a number of others, including routes 1, 2EX, 3, 8, 13, 15, 16, 17 (regular and EX), 18EX, 24, 26EX, 28EX, 30, 31 and 33. Read our previous coverage for more information on how these changes will affect transit in Queen Anne and the greater Seattle area.

Tonight’s meeting is at 6 p.m. at the King County Courthouse, Council Chambers, at 516 Third Ave., Seattle. If you can’t make it tonight, there’s one more meeting at 6 p.m. next Thursday, July 21, at the Burien City Council Chambers, at 400 SW 152nd St., Burien.

If you can’t make it to one of the public hearings, you can submit your comments directly to the King County Council online. Transportation for Washington also has a form letter you can fill out in support of the congestion reduction charge.

Click here for a complete list of all routes (.pdf) and whether the proposal calls for them to be eliminated, reduced or remain unchanged. Click here for a map (.pdf) of all affected routes in Northwest Seattle.

We’ve been hearing reports of another scam making the rounds in Queen Anne this week. The door-to-door “locked out of my house,” or “locksmith scam” is back in action in several neighborhoods around the city. This scam was making the rounds back in January, but had died out some until May, when the scammer reappeared in Green Lake. All the reports indicate that this particular scam is being run by the same guy, who has tried the same story, with a few neighborhood specific variations, in a number of communities around town. From our partners over at My Green Lake:

The man known as the “locksmith scammer” is described as being between 5’6″ and 6′ tall, of slight build, African American, and balding.

The man typically claims to be a janitor working at a nearby school and he sometimes says that his partner works at Microsoft. He’s new to the neighborhood, he says, and is locked out of his house. However, he claims, he is a few dollars short of the money he needs to pay a locksmith.

The locksmith scammer has been spotted running his scam in Green Lake, Roosevelt, Maple Leaf, Laurelhurst, Ballard, and now Queen Anne. One of our readers, Ron, says the scammer showed up at his North Queen Anne home (in the Florentia, 3^rd Ave area by SPU) at around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday introducing himself as a neighbor and asking for money.

“He came to my house and I had read about him though the Green Lake blog. His story changed a bit, said he was a janitor at SPU and living around the corner in a townhouse, but the rest was the same. Only needed a few dollars to pay the locksmith, etc.,” he wrote.

We haven’t heard of any incidents of theft, assault or violence in relation to the scammer, but in one case in Green Lake back in May the scammer tried to persuade a woman to let him into her apartment. From My Green Lake:

Kailea Ball, who manages an apartment building just west of Green Lake, reports that the locksmith scammer recently knocked on the door of one of her tenants. “I guess he got REALLY pushy until he realized her [boyfriend] was there,” Kailea tweeted earlier this evening. “Wouldn’t leave. Kept asking to come in, saying ‘Let me in. I’m gay – I’m not going to hurt you.’ When they gave him $ he demanded more.”

* Thanks to Ron for the tip!

At approximately 12:40 a.m. on Wednesday, July 6 a tourist was walking back to his rental car (on the NW corner of 5th Ave W and W Comstock) from Kerry Park when he was approached by two unidentified men who robbed him at knifepoint, according to a Seattle Police Department incident report. The two suspects had been loitering at SE corner of 4th Ave W and W Comstock when the victim arrived. According to the police report, the victim told police that he felt an “innate fear” when he first saw the suspects, and almost didn’t turn onto W Comstock.

Despite his gut instincts, the suspect continued toward his rental car, crossing Comstock so that he was on the north side of the street opposite the suspects. The victim then heard both suspects cross the street behind him, shouting at him. The victim ignored them and continued on, when one of the suspects (Suspect #2) ran up behind him and grabbed his shoulder, turning him around. From the police report:

Suspect #2 shouted, ‘Give me your bag,’ (camera bag with sling). [The victim] said, ‘No I’m not giving you anything-there’s nothing in the bag’. Suspect #2 pulled a knife (fixed blade 3 inch, black handle, stab knife) and said, ‘You don’t want to risk it man’. [The victim] then gave the bag to suspect #2. Suspect #1 was standing there behind Suspect #2.

Both suspects ran off eastbound and continued northbound up 4 Av W, according to the report. The victim walked to his vehicle and drove around the area looking for the suspects, with no success. The suspects made off with the victim’s Canon 5 D mark 2 camera, camera bag and iPad. The victim flew back home later that day.

The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) hosts a series of summer history tours, including a tour focusing on Aurora Avenue North. “Aurora: Life on Seattle’s Mother Road” is from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, July 23. The tour will be led by local historian Roger van Oosten.

Thousands of drivers use Aurora Avenue every day, yet few understand how a city street can be as controversial as this one. Aurora plays host to a broad and colorful spectrum of Seattle characters, often receiving public criticism as a result. Historian Roger van Oosten will give an informative, witty, and fun tour of the heart of Aurora, offering insight into why this historic Mother Road is vital to Seattle’s past, present and future. A light lunch will be served in Licton Springs Park following the tour, weather permitting. Meet at the corner of N 90th St. and Stone Ave. N.

Purchase tickets for the tour at Brown Paper Tickets, or by calling 1-800-838-3006.

Seattle Public Utilities is offering free paint and supplies to anyone who wants to help paint out graffiti in their neighborhood. The Summer Paint Out program runs in July and August.

Whether you are a group or an individual, you can tackle graffiti in your neighborhood. The City of Seattle supports volunteers with FREE paint (white-brown-gray), rollers, brushes, scrapers, and gloves.

Sign up online, or call 206-684-7790 for more information.

Supplies can be picked up on the following Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (registration required first): July 16, July 30, Aug. 6, Aug. 20.

After five years running free monthly documentary film screenings on the hill, the Queen Anne Movie Guild has announced that the organization has come to an end. In a note addressed to members of the community last week, Guild members explained some of the difficulties that led up to this decision. Congruently the group posted the following note on the QAMG website:

After five years, the Queen Anne Movie Guild has come to a close. Over these years, documentaries have grown in number and visibility, which is great news. The bad news is that their cost has risen to the point where we are no longer able to afford to show the quality films we would like to bring you.

Fortunately, the sources available through the internet have increased — NetFlix, Brave New Theatre, FreeSpeech TV online documentaries, YouTube free feature length films, and FaceBook – and we hope you will take advantage of these.

We will be donating our remaining funds to the Center for Wooden Boats and Wallingford Meaningful Movies. They each have supported us with loaned projectors. Our DVDs will be going either to the Seattle Public Library or to the DVD loan library of Wallingford Meaningful Movies. Our DVD player will be going to Wallingford Meaningful Movies to support their ongoing project, which aids others in showing social justice documentaries in area neighborhoods.

Thank you for your participation in and generous support of the Queen Anne Movie Guild screenings over the past five years. Collectively, we built a successful and thoroughly enjoyable venture in education, entertainment, and community building. We hope our paths will cross again.

All the Best,

Guild Members:
David Griffith, Pat Griffith, Carol Isaac, Gordon Jackins, Rich Littleton, Margaret Okamoto, Erin Schiedler, Richard Sewell, and Keith Yoshida