In the last Queen Anne Greenways community meeting, there was one agenda item – better lighting for Queen Anne stairways and greenways. It seems simple, but have you ever traversed our neighborhood at night? There are some seriously dark spots, even some of the more-often travelled stairways that lead to key bus routes and connect Upper and Lower Queen Anne.

Queen Anne Stairway 119
part of the stair system
from Galer to Aurora

That’s where the Queen Anne Greenways stairway is stepping up with an audit of our stairways to assess which ones are top priorities for repair and lighting. The community is invited and encouraged to participate – get out and meet your neighbors, explore our stairways, and makes steps to improve safety at the same time.

Queen Anne Greenways’s stairway audit walk will be held on April 9th starting at 6:30pm, and running until 8:30 or 9pm, depending on your group and mapped area. The group will use the audit results to present our neighborhood’s needs to the Seattle Department of Transportation, to ensure safe routes all over the neighborhood.

The group is judging interest via RSVPs, and once they know how many residents can participate, they’ll divvy up the hill into sections. You can pick the best start point for you, meet up with like-minded neighbors, and investigate our stairways.

Key Details:

• When: Tuesday, April 9th, 6:30pm to 8:30 or 9:00pm
• Where: various start points around Queen Anne (your choice, map TBD based on RSVPs)
• RSVP: email Queen Anne Greenways

Once Queen Anne Greenways has RSVPs, they can map out the hill and keep volunteers informed via email as details are nailed down. It’s free, simple, and a great way to get out and about… or, rather, up and down!

With warm weather in the forecast, it looks like it’s going to be a nice day. Combine that with tonight’s Independence Day festivities and it should be a fantastic Fourth.

Couple notes from the SPD and SFD to get you on your way today…

The Seattle Police Department and Seattle Fire Department would like to remind the public that fireworks are illegal in the City of Seattle.

The possession, manufacture, storage, sale, handling and use of fireworks are prohibited. Fireworks offenses are gross misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a $5,000 fine.

Any fireworks-related fires or injuries should be reported directly to 911. Other fireworks violations may be reported by calling the Seattle Police non-emergency number at (206) 625-5011.

As a heads-up as to what’s open, what’s on and what’s not happening today…

• CleanScapes garbage, food and yard waste, and recycling collections will be on normal schedule. The North Recycling and Disposal Station will be closed, but the South Recycling and Disposal Station will be open.
• All Neighborhood Service Centers will be closed.
• Metro Transit bus routes will be operating on a Sunday schedule.
• Libraries will be closed. Book drops at the Queen Anne library will be open, but the one at the Central Library will be closed.
• The post office will be closed and there will be no regular mail delivery.
• The liquor store in Queen Anne (515 1st Ave N) will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Neighborhood retirement community Merrill Gardens, located at 800 4th Ave N in Lower Queen Anne, celebrated the completion of a brand new and long sought-after crosswalk on Thursday, June 9 with a ribbon cutting with City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen.

Merrill Garden’s Lower Queen Anne location is home to around 190 senior citizens who live in two buildings on either side of 4th Ave, a busy street which has been a safety concern for the many residents who cross it frequently.

The seniors living at Merrill Gardens and its administrative staff have been trying to get the City to approve a new crosswalk in the middle of 4th Ave since 2006, only to be met with repeated denials. In September they reached out to Councilmember Rasmussen, who got involved and helped bring the project about. From the press release:

He [Rasmussen] convinced the Seattle Department of Transportation to take another look at the request and upon review, SDOT approved plans for a crosswalk with curb cuts and signage. The crossing now provides residents with easier access between buildings, and Thursday’s ceremony will celebrate the retirement community’s victory.

“I’m so glad that Merrill Gardens brought this issue to my attention,” Rasmussen said in a statement. “It’s important that our City responds to requests from its residents. I am thrilled that we were able to get the plans approved.”

This afternoon Mayor Mike McGinn’s office announced a new neighborhood survey on crime, put together by grad students at the prestigious Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.

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.

In a community newsletter sent out on Tuesday, Seattle Police Department crime prevention officer Terrie Johnston advised the community on how to help keep your home from being a target in an all-too-common residential burglary. From the newsletter:

The most common way used to force entry through a door with a wooden jamb is to kick it open. When a door is kicked in, the frame usually splinters and gives way, allowing the burglar to enter.  The weakest point is almost always the strike plate that holds the latch or lock bolt in place. The average door strike plate is secured only to the doorframe molding. These lightweight moldings are often tacked on to the doorframe and can be torn away with a firm kick.  Increasingly, we’ve noticed a trend of burglars increasingly using pry tools at doors to gain entry into homes.

To help fortify your home against intruders, SPD suggests reinforcing your exterior doors and deadbolt locks through a few minor upgrades that can be done at home. Read the full list of suggestions in the newsletter (.pdf).

From the Seattle Department of Transportation:

Street Maintenance crews worked throughout the night clearing up to six inches of wet snow and slush from major arterial streets around the city. This morning crews are clearing slush that remains on some arterial streets, especially at the tops of hills. Also, more than 30 SDOT employees are clearing street corners in high priority areas such as around hospitals and in business districts.

SDOT asks drivers to use caution when driving where there is still slush on the roadway making the streets slippery, and to be on the lookout for standing water. Residents and businesspersons are asked to check the drains near their homes and businesses to make sure the drains are not blocked by debris so that water can enter easily. Also, residents and businesspersons are encouraged to clear slush from the sidewalks around their property to enable pedestrians to pass by safely.

The Seattle Police Department’s west precinct may be losing its crime prevention coordinator come April 1, but until then Terrie Johnston is continuing with her monthly crime and burglary recaps for the community. Check our her full letter to the community regarding crime in Queen Anne this December here:

Hi, I wanted to share information I gleaned from residential burglaries reported this month of December.  It is not unusual to see slight increases in property crimes during the holidays. Why might this happen?  People are often scurrying about shopping, going to parties, etc.  and our social calendars can become fuller at year’s end.  That can mean we don’t pay full attention to security and safety.  Add to that, many people go out of town during the season; school is out; and there are gifts everywhere (in cars; under the tree; sitting on front porches).  You get the picture.  So let’s look at some of the significant points for December’s burglaries so far.

The majority of the burglaries still occured during the daytime hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. A common method of entry was using something in the yard to gain access to the windows, i.e. a garbage can was turned upside down to reach a window; an outside stool was strategically placed under a window and used as stairs; the victim’s step-ladder was used to gain access to the 2^nd floor balcony where the thieves entered through an unlocked sliding door.  In a few burglaries, entry was believed to have been made through the dog door.  Several entries were made through unlocked windows.  One victim went for a short run and left the front door unlocked and came home to a completed burglary. Thieves came into an unlocked  garage door and stole all the food from the freezer;  another victim reported that he fell asleep with his front door unlocked.  This allowed the crook(s) to enter, remove the vehicle’s remote from the ashtray on the table by the front door.  That car was then prowled.  In another burglary, a concealed side door was kicked in, shattering the door frame.  In one incident, the home owners returned mid-day and discovered the burglars in their home.

Here are some of the items reported stolen this month: 9 mm pistol; laptops, money, cameras; heavy stereo speakers; 42” flat screen TV; electronics, jewelry & sewing machine, and wrapped Christmas gifts.  It’s hard to imagine how some of those bigger items were removed unseen.  Was more than one thief involved?  Did they use a car?  A look out?  Please do not hesitate to call 9-1-1 if on your block you see unknown people, with heavy backpacks or a stuffed pillow case (as was done in a burglary last week) acting suspiciously or unknown cars in your neighbor’s driveway when they are gone.  Trust your gut!

My tips: Use the locks and latches you have.  Be religious about locking up, even if you are only going to be away for a brief time.   Keep shrubbery pruned back so neighbors can see onto your property.  Get a house sitter if you will be away.  Start or rekindle your Block Watch so your neighbors can be invited to watch out for your home when you cannot be there.  Lock up or store out-of-sight any ladders, sawhorses, etc.  Close your blinds in the rooms where there are desirable electronics when you are away.   Do not hesitate to report anything suspicious to 9-1-1, even if it isn’t an emergency.  Call me if you would like a free home security survey conducted.  Thank you for sharing this information with your neighbors and Block Watch contacts.

For more information contact Terrie directly at the Seattle Police Crime Prevention number, 206-684-4741, or via email at Terrie.Johnston@seattle.gov.

Brought to light by the death of Sammy, a German short-hair pointer who was electrified after stepping onto a metal plate last month, the issue of “stray voltage” in city streets has come to the forefront. Though Seattle City Light says the accident was an “isolated incident”, many more stories have emerged, and the city has taken flak from worried community members, who believe the lack of adequate inspections is to blame.

In response, City Light released a statement late last night announcing a briefing at 10:30 a.m. today regarding the organization’s new streetlight response plan. Here is a copy of the release:

City Light Update on Streetlight Response Plan

Superintendent to provide details on streetlight review effort

SEATTLE – Last month a dog stepped on an energized metal plate covering a small streetlight vault on Queen Anne Avenue.  Late Monday, City Light received a call from a customer in the High Point area who was concerned that there might be a faulty streetlight in her neighborhood.

“We received a call from a customer who believed that a streetlight in her neighborhood may not be working properly,” says Superintendent of City Light Jorge Carrasco. “Crews investigated the streetlight on Tuesday, found that there were exposed wires in the lamphead and immediately repaired it. There was no damage or injury associated with this malfunctioning streetlight.”

Superintendent Carrasco will brief the media on the plans City Light has to inspect and to make repairs, if necessary, to any of the 20,000 metal streetlight poles and 10,000 metal “hand holes” (small streetlight vault covers) in the utility’s service territory.

Specific questions will be addressed at Thursday’s media briefing.

The briefing will be held today, Thursday, December 9 at 10:30 a.m. at the Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 Fifth Avenue, Room 4050.

Don’t forget, the Queen Anne and South Lake Union area Public Safety Forum is tonight, Wednesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. in the Rainier Room at Seattle Center.

The discussion will cover topics on public safety, Block Watch programs,  graffiti reporting and more, with speakers and representatives from the Seattle Police Department, Seattle Public Utilities, City Council, and a number of community organization.

The forum is a joint effort by the Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce, South Lake Union Chamber of Commerce, Uptown Alliance and Queen Anne Community Council.

More information on the forum tonight here.

A Magnolia Voice reader spotted some road signs in Interbay and Magnolia that appear to have bullet holes in them.

He wrote,

I’ve noticed a number of road signs with bullet holes in them recently… As a state certified firearms instructor, this sort of behavior is very disturbing to me and needs to be handled as aggressively as possible by law enforcement.

If anyone has any more information about this, please post in the comments below.

Last month Camille parked on the street outside her Lower Queen Anne apartment, near W Roy St. and 3rd Ave W., and began to walk towards her building when she was suddenly attacked, kicked to the ground and mugged. Although she was not seriously injured and later recovered her belongings, Camille was shaken up and worried for the safety of herself and other women living in the neighborhood.

Though she didn’t know it at the time, but several neighbors heard her screams and run outside to assist her. By that time Camille had already made her way into her building, but her story has lead several community members to urge the creation of new Block Watch group in Lower Queen Anne.

J.P. Flores, who is spearheading the effort, says that many in the community have responded and he expects a large attendance at the first meeting, set for Thursday, April 8 at 5:30 p.m. at the Courtyard at Queen Anne Square, located at 275 W. Roy.

SPD Crime Prevention Officer Terrie Johnston will be attending the meeting to help Queen Anne residents learn about working together to tackle public safety issues. The event will be a great opportunity to meet your neighbors face-to-face, one of the first steps in creating an effective Block Watch.

For more information see the event flier (.pdf), and feel free to pass the information along to other neighbors who may be interested.