Beginning at approximately 7 a.m. and running through the rest of the day on Thursday, April 14, Seattle Police Department and Washington State Patrol officers conducted a major safe driving enforcement patrol along Aurora Ave N.

Over the course of the day patrol officers tracked a total of 677 violations, wrote up 509 citations, clocked 331 speeders and doled out 198 warnings to drivers, according to the SPD Blotter. These numbers include 62 people caught driving while talking on their cell phones, 80 driving without insurance, 23 without a license, and a total of six who were arrested and charged with DUIs. Here’s the breakdown of violations, and subsequent tickets, for the day:

Tickets issued for the following violations:

Aggressive driving – 19
DUI Arrest – 6
Negligent Driving – 2
High speed – 66 in a 40 MPH zone
Cell phone – 62
No insurance – 80
No Operators License – 23
FTY to Pedestrians – 1
FTY Right of Way – 2
Unsafe Lane Change – 21
Follow to close – 2
School zone – 8
School zone (speed van) – 42
Bicycle – 2
Inattention – 2
Defective Equipment – 8
Illegal turns – 16
Signs Obey – 15
No seatbelt – 30
Vehicle License – 5

While SPD did dish out quite a lot of tickets along Aurora yesterday, officers say the primary aim of the patrol was safety. “The overall goal of the Aurora Avenue emphasis patrol is to promote safe driving behavior, not necessarily to write tickets. Tickets are however, a product of traffic law enforcement,” SPD said in a statement.

Some readers disagree however. Ben commented on our previous story about the patrol, saying, “One has to wonder how stupid the police think the public is. Maybe I’m giving the police too much credit but I can’t believe for a second that they honestly believe this has any long term effect. It’s just an excuse to hand out gobs of tickets. After three days of non-police-marshal-law on Aurora things will business as usual.”

QA Res responded, “If they want to make Aurora safer they should focus their safety efforts on what’s happening outside of the car on Aurora.”

What do you think? Did the patrol help remind the public to drive safely along Aurora, which has an extremely high collision incident rate, or was it just an excuse for officers to hand out more tickets in a shorter amount of time? What do you think SPD and the city could do to make Aurora safer?

On Monday the Seattle City Council unanimously passed an ordinance that will allow Seattle police officers to give out $100 citations for fighting, threatening others, or making excessive or “unreasonable noise” in public areas between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. The legislation, which was sponsored by Councilmember Nick Licata and included in Mayor McGinn’s Seattle Nightlife Initiative, aims to promote “the co-existence of residents and nightlife establishments” in Seattle’s nightlife districts.

“This bill passed because groups on all sides of this issue were willing to make compromises. The new law should address most of the behavioral problems police encounter when crowds leave the bars. It provides them with a preventive alternative to address unruly bar patrons on the sidewalks,” Licata said in the public statement.

The new ordinance will affect business districts throughout Seattle, especially those with large concentrations of bars, such as downtown, Belltown and Lower Queen Anne. It will go into effect after a legally required State Department of Ecology Review is completed, a process that may take up to 90 days. As part of the ordinance, the Chief of Police and the City Attorney will also be required to report on the action’s success in reducing nighttime disturbances in 2011.

“Undesirable behavior by patrons after they leave nightlife establishments is an ongoing concern. We now have legislation that will hold disrespectful club goers accountable, which is another proactive approach of the City’s comprehensive nightlife initiative,” Mayor McGinn said in a statement.

Given that noisy crowds can often be heard roaming around Uptown and parts of Queen Anne after closing time, it’s safe to say this ordinance will likely directly impact bar goers—and nearby residents—in the neighborhood. What do you think, Queen Anne? Do you agree with the new ordinance, or disagree, and why?

Whether  you’re the kind of person who loves to see live music or prefers to listen to tunes in the comfort of your own home, no Seattleite can ignore the city’s biggest music festival, Bumbershoot, which brings thousands of people to Seattle Center every Labor Day weekend (this year September 4 to 6) for three straight days of jam-packed shows.

Yesterday the festival, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, announced the official lineup for the weekend, including headliners like Bob Dylan, Weezer and Mary J. Blige, and other mainstage names like Neko Case, The Decembrists, Hole, Rise Against, J. Cole and one more unannounced special guest. Take a look at the full lineup here, and keep checking back because more names will be released as the festival inches closer.

Tickets to Bumbershoot are now on sale, and are going for a whopping $40 a day (if you buy in advance, $50 if you buy at the gate), which begs the question, how much is seeing your favorite music live worth to you? (I remember way back when, when tickets to Bumbershoot were just $45 for the whole weekend–and as a high school kid, I thought that was expensive!)

But for those who don’t want to dole out 40 clams a pop, and given the current economic downturn, the festival will also be offering an aptly named “economy” package, which will get you into Bumbershoot for $22 a day ($30 at the gate) and gives you access to six musical stages, three comedy stages and a number of other venues but–and here’s the kicker–does not include any mainstage performances at Memorial Stadium (a fine option if you’re not in it for the headliners). Check out other packages here. But for the most frugal of music lovers, there’s always one more option for penny-pinching your way into Bumber fun: volunteering!

For the next few weeks Starbucks will be showing its gratitude to Seattle for being home to and helping create its global coffee culture, by giving away free tickets to special events at participating Starbucks around town after 2 p.m. every Friday from today, May 21 to June 18.

Both the Upper and Lower Queen Anne Starbucks locations are participating in the event. Though there is no purchase necessary, according to Starbucks, there will only be about 100 vouchers at every story per promotion, so get there quick!

Today they will be handing out vouchers for a free ticket to a Mariners game (valued at $20) redeemable at any of the following games: June 1 (vs Minnesota), July 6 (vs Kansas City), July 20 (vs Chicago), August 5 (vs Texas), August 10 (vs Oakland) or August 31 (vs LA).

On May 28, they’ll have vouchers to see one film at the Seattle International Film Festival (must be used by June 13). On June 4 its a voucher for a free weekday admission at the Seattle Art Museum. On June 11, you’ll get free weekday admission for one child at the Seattle Aquarium.  And on June 18, you’ll get free admission to selects shows of the new Broadway production of “Burn the Floor” at The Paramount. Details here.

The Seattle Police Department has started photo speed enforcement on Elliott Ave West.  This is part of a pilot project authorized during the 2009 state legislative session.  Using the same photo radar van employed in school zones, SPD will deploy the van to selected arterial locations, including Elliott Ave West, four days per week to determine the impact on speeding.

The enforcement started this week with a three-week warning phase.  Speeders will start getting tickets on May 10 and it will cost you.  Depending on how fast you are going, the citations will run between $124 and $247.

The future of the arterial speed pilot will be determined by the State Legislature and Governor after they receive a report on project results from Seattle and Tacoma early in 2011.

The semifinals for EMP|SFM’s 9th annual Sound Off!, the largest underage battle of the bands in the Pacific Northwest, kick off this weekend with four area bands. First up are (Sui-Generis) from Kennewick, Apache Chief from Tacoma, Candysound from Burlington, and Sea Fever from right here in Seattle, competing on Saturday, February 13.

Semifinalists will continue to head it off for the next two Saturdays in a row. Check out the competitors here:

• Saturday, February 20: Semifinals #2
• Saturday, February 27: Semifinals #3

The finals will be on Saturday, March 7. Check out the prizes here. Doors open at 7 p.m. every week, and the shows start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $7 for students and EMP|SFM members, and $10 for the general public. Tickets can be purchased at the EMP|SFM box office, or by calling 206-770-2702. Details here.

One of our readers, Katie Gilliam, parked along the right side of Roy St, between 3rd Ave and Nob Hill, on Tuesday evening for the Seattle University basketball game at KeyArena. There are no meters on the street and no “No Parking” signs posted. She got a $38 ticket.

“There’s a construction fence up along the side of the road, but no signs indicating cars should not park there. A number of other cars had parked in the area, so we did the same,” she wrote.

When she got back to her car after the game, she saw a Seattle Parking Enforcement employee ticketing all the cars along the street – about 20 she estimated. The parking enforcement officer told her that she goes to the same spot every night to write out tickets. Katie wrote,

We asked her why the city doesn’t put up a sign indicating that cars cannot park there, and she said she didn’t think the city would do that because of “the budget.

On one level, this seems like a quick and dirty way for the city to make money – one that intentionally misleads people into getting a ticket. On another level, this is a blow to Queen Anne businesses. This area is already struggling to make up for the loss of the Sonics, and when 20 people who ventured into the area for a basketball game receive parking tickets, it leaves a sour taste in our mouths.

Katie wrote in hoping to prevent others from getting tickets and pressure the city to put up a “No Parking” sign. Though a call to SDOT was not immediately answered, there are ways to make a request for street sign maintenance online through their website. Here is a link to SDOT’s Street Maintenance Request form. Other customer requests and feedback can be made here.

With Labor Day weekend just five days away, many Seattleites have one thing on their minds: Bumbershoot! And if you haven’t picked up your tickets yet, you could always win them from Easy Street Records, who will be giving away a pair of tickets for each day of the three-day festival.

For information on how to enter, click here. You can buy tickets here, or at the stands (incentive to enter the contest: a one-day pass goes for $50!).

The festival is celebrating it’s 38th year in Seattle this year. It is put on by One Reel.

(As always, thanks to Jesse and Easy Street Records for the image!)