City officials may soon be cracking down on prostitution activities in the stretch of land just east of Seattle Center – the area known as “The Track” along Mercer between 5th Ave N, Lenora, and Westlake, which has become a prime target for gang activity and recruitment into prostitution, according to a report by SeattleCrime.
Documents from the City Attorney’s Office, obtained by SeattleCrime, indicate that officials are interested in creating a new Stay Out of Area of Prostitution (S.O.A.P.) zone in the area. From SeattleCrime:
The S.O.A.P. zones allow courts to require people charged with prostitution to stay out of high-prostitution areas–primarily around downtown–while they await trial or following their release from jail.
The city already has seven S.O.A.P. zones set up around town. According to the report, officials would remove the zone around E Pine to Pike from 10th Ave to 9th Ave., and create a new zone around The Track, where several gang members involved in pimping young women were arrested last year.
Staff from the City Attorney’s Office are scheduled to appear in front of a judge to ask for the S.O.A.P. zone expansion on Friday. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more. You can read the full story at SeattleCrime.
Just after midnight on Saturday, May 14 a 15-year-old girl was stabbed outside the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, according to the Seattle Police Department. A crowd of some 200 people had gathered at the Center for an all city dance, during which police witnessed several disturbances. From the SPD Blotter:
As officers were attempting to disperse the crowd, they were advised of a stabbing incident that occurred inside the large crowd. A juvenile female reportedly got into a fight with another female, who subsequently stabbed her in the abdomen.
Officers were able to locate the victim and call in the Seattle Fire Department, who transported her to Harborview Medical Center where she underwent surgery, according to the report.
The Seattle Police Department also located the knife they believe was used in the attack and submitted it into evidence. No suspects were taken into custody, but SPD detectives say they are currently investigating several leads.
The West Precinct of the Seattle Police Department has recently reinvigorated its foot patrol team in an attempt to both curb crime, and build lasting relationships with the communities they police and the neighbors that live and work in them. Take a look at KOMO4′s story on the newly expanded SPD walking beat:
Capt. Joe Kessler, who took over the West Precinct back in October, reinstated the foot patrol unit, dedicating some 32 officers to walking beats in communities within the precinct, up from one eight-officer team in years before, according to KOMO4.
What do you think about the expansion of the foot patrol program? Do you think the Queen Anne community will benefit from having dedicating officers on regular walking beats, or do you think SPD should be putting its resources into other programs and services to better serve the neighborhood?
Queen Anne resident Martin Ramirez was the victim of another car prowl on the hill this weekend. He wanted to relay the event to serve as a reminder to neighbors to not leave items of value in your car:
On Saturday night (4/9) – Sunday Morning (4/10) someone broke into my car parked on Blaine St. I noticed because I saw a stack of shuffled papers around and my iPod missing, they also took half of an old checkbook that fell off my laptop. I reported the incident to the police and talked to the neighbors so they are aware.
The Seattle Mayor’s office and the University of Washington reached out again last week to ask neighborhood residents to participate in a new neighborhood survey on crime, put together by grad students at the prestigious Evans School of Public Affairs at the university.
The online survey “will help determine residents’ primary public safety concerns in their own neighborhoods and on public transportation.”
With this survey, the City hopes to have a snapshot of perceptions of the police and public safety at a neighborhood-by-neighborhood level. The survey also gives residents an opportunity to anonymously offer their opinions on the police and public safety in Seattle — a new option for this kind of survey.
The new survey asks residents their opinion of public safety conditions in Seattle’s urban villages, if there are any urban villages they avoid, and why.
You’ll have choices like these on crime:
Very serious problem
Serious problem
Minor problem
Not a problem
Question No. 9 asks you to name the most serious crime problems in your neighborhood. There’s a list of 20 choices – including “no crime” and “other.” You get to pick no more than five.
There are 47 questions – possibly more if you ride transit often – including ones dealing with police harassment and effectiveness. You can take the survey- it takes about a quarter-hour – here. The Evans School will release the results to the mayor’s Youth and Family Initiative in May.
The online survey “will help determine residents’ primary public safety concerns in their own neighborhoods and on public transportation.”
With this survey, the City hopes to have a snapshot of perceptions of the police and public safety at a neighborhood-by-neighborhood level. The survey also gives residents an opportunity to anonymously offer their opinions on the police and public safety in Seattle — a new option for this kind of survey.
The new survey asks residents their opinion of public safety conditions in Seattle’s urban villages, if there are any urban villages they avoid, and why.
At all events, you’ll have choices like these on crime:
Very serious problem
Serious problem
Minor problem
Not a problem
Question No. 9 asks you to name the most serious crime problems in your neighborhood. There’s a list of 20 choices – including “no crime” and “other.” You get to pick no more than five.
There are 47 questions – possibly more if you ride transit often – including ones dealing with police harassment and effectiveness. You can take the 10-minute survey here. The Evans School will release the results to the mayor’s Youth and Family Initiative in May.
Do you have public safety concerns specific to Queen Anne? In addition to sharing your thoughts on the survey, please leave a comment here.
Teenagers are reported to have been involved in two different robberies on Tuesday, March 15, according to Seattle Police Department reports.
The first robbery, which took place at 2:05 a.m. at a 24-hour store located in the 1900 block of Queen Anne Avenue North., left one victim–the store clerk–with two cuts on his head, one behind his left ear and the other over his left eye.
According to the police report, the victim said he heard someone walking toward the cash register, so he headed to the front to cash-out any customers. When he got to the front he saw the two suspects walking past the register and toward the door, each with a bottle of wine in their hands.
Positioning himself between the suspects and the door the victim yelled “hey, you can’t have those.” At this time the suspects reportedly ran toward him, one striking him on the left side of his head with one of the wine bottles, which were both left at the scene when the suspects fled.
According to the police report there may be video surveillance of the crime. One fingerprint was found and submitted to evidence. SPD officers conducted an area check at the scene, but were unable to locate the suspects. Here are the suspect descriptions taken verbatim from the police report:
Suspect #1 W/M 16 yoa, 5’00″, thin build, Asian style eyes, blond hair in a single ponytail, dark shirt, and dark jogging pants.
Suspect #2 B/M teens, 5’01″ unknown clothing, afro style hair about two inches long.
The second robbery, which took place just two and a half hours later at 4:28 a.m. at David Rodgers Park. According to the report the victim, a Queen Anne resident who lives on 2nd Ave W, went to his car, which was parked outside his family’s home, to get his cigarettes. He then reportedly walked to the park to smoke, and was sitting on the swing set smoking and looking out at the blackberry bushes when he was approached by the first suspect, who “came up behind him and in a raspy 18 year old voice demand, ‘Give me your money bitch!’”
The suspect then saw the second suspect, who came from behind him and was wearing a grey hoody. The second suspect reportedly pointed a fixed steak knife with a 6 inch blade at the suspect and demanded, “Give me your money bitch!”
The suspect, who the police report noted had recently lost his job and was staying up late at night, had been pistol whipped during a robbery in West Seattle two years earlier. Wanting to avoid getting hurt again, the victim told police he gave the suspects $160 in cash that his father had given him to get through the week. The suspects then reportedly fled in a Northwest direction down one of the park’s trails. Police searched the area but were unable to find the suspects or any evidence.
The victim told police that “he felt so anxious about the incident that he was nauseous and wanted to go lie down.” The police report did not provide any suspect descriptions.
The business, which quietly opened at 332 5th Ave N a few months ago, started its transformation by painting the outside walls white with black trim, and introducing a new concept to the space. Instead of opening up another club, which the space has had many incarnations of already, and none without their share of problems (particularly crime) in recent years, the new owners opted to turn the space into a venue for a variety of events – from live concerts, to fashion shows, comedy shows, corporate events, private parties and others.
Check out the upcoming events calendar for iMusic here. To find out how to reserve a table on a club night, or reserve the space for a party or event, click here.
Two customers jumped into action when an attempted robbery went down last night at the Kidd Valley on Lower Queen Anne. Just before 9:30 p.m. witnesses say a former employee of the restaurant walked in and headed for the back of the building. He then turned out the lights in the restaurant and removed money from an unlocked safe. When he came out from the back, he was wearing a mask and ordered everyone to “get down.”
Accoring to Seattle Police three customers, including a father and adult son, tripped the robber and fought to hold him down until police arrived. The son had some minor abrasions on his face and hands from the struggle, and the suspect also sustained some injuries that sent him to Harborview. The 56 year old suspect was treated at the hospital and then booked into jail for investigation of robbery and an outstanding warrant.
One of our readers, Maria, had her car broken into at the top of the hill last night. She writes:
I was parked on Garfield, between Queen Anne Ave and 1st Ave W last night, in one of the back-in spots right outside the Desert Sun. When I came out to my car in the morning, the front passenger side window had been smashed in. All they took was a purse that was empty except for a dirty Tupperware container. It was totally dumb of me to leave even an empty bag in full view like that, but after 3 years of living in the heart of Capitol Hill and the CD and never having my car touched even when I (foolishly) left my ipod, laptop, phone charger, etc. in it, I wasn’t expecting a $30 purse from Express to be break-window-worthy… it was a pretty cute bag though. Bummer. Incidentally, last week I got home around midnight on a Wednesday and parked in the same spot and when I got out there were two cops with flashlights out walking around the alley and the big parking garage right there looking for something/someone. Probably not parking there anymore.
Maria warns other neighbors to be on the look out, so “no one else gets smashed”
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