Pinehurst Seattle

Dispose of Unneeded/Expired Drugs October 22nd

North Precinct Advisory Council Minutes for October 2016

This month the NPAC had a very interesting topic. Elliott Bronstein, from the Seattle Office of Civil Rights, explained the city’s Race and Social Justice Initiative. While Seattle is doing pretty well with diversity in city hiring, it has yet to completely root out institutional racism. This is so deeply embedded we can hardly see it as white people, who have traditionally had the power and institutions that worked well for them. Another factor that makes it hard for us to see it is that we see ourselves as a progressive city with good values. Yes, it’s hard to see institutional racism – unless you’re a person of color.

So this initiative, among other things, has developed a racial equity toolkit that all city departments will use during policy making and program development. The toolkit lays out a process for reaching out and listening to communities of color to find out how something would benefit or burden the community, adjust the policy to create greater racial equity or minimize unintended consequences, and once implemented, track the impact over time, and report back to leadership and stakeholders.

I particularly liked this image that explains the difference between equality and equity:

On another note, this week SPD Chief O’Toole instructed the North Precinct to be divided into two precincts. North Precinct covers 40% of Seattle, while the rest of Seattle is served by 4 precincts. While details haven’t been worked out yet, it’s presumed that there will be a North Precinct and a Northwest Precinct. Pinehurst would be in the North Precinct. For now, both will work out of the existing building, and will share some of the teams, such as bike patrol and community police team. It’s not known how this will affect plans for a new precinct building.

Minutes from the meeting are here.

CANCELLED – Arbor Day in Virgil Flaim Park

This event is canceled due to threat of high winds on Saturday.

The Right Way To Get Out of the Way for Emergency Vehicles

Here’s some info to remember, to help make our streets safe for emergency vehicles (from the Pemco Insurance newsletter):

Whoooop! Whoooop! Whoooop! An emergency vehicle is approaching fast. Sure, you know to pull to the right shoulder and stop when you’re on a two-lane road. But would you know the right way to get out of the way in these trickier situations?

You’re stopped for a red light on a three-lane road (one lane in each direction, plus a center turn lane). You see an emergency vehicle with sirens and lights coming up behind you. Do you:
1. inch as far as you can to the right?
2. swing in to the center turn lane to let the vehicle pass?
3. pull through the red light and turn so the emergency vehicle can go by?
4. stay put and do nothing?
Got your answer? Now try this one.
You’re in the far left lane on a four-lane, one-way street, getting ready to merge on the freeway. An emergency vehicle with sirens and lights roars up in your lane. Do you:
1. pull over to the left shoulder (since it’s the closest) and stop to let the vehicle pass?
2. pull as far to the right as you can and stop if it’s safe to do so?
3. continue on without stopping?
4. stop in your lane where you are?
OK, last one:
You’re traveling on a divided highway and an emergency vehicle approaches you in the opposite direction. Do you:
1. pull as far to the right as you can and stop?
2. continue on without stopping?
3. stop in the lane where you are?

Ready to see how you did, according to Washington and Oregon state laws? You’re right if you answered:

Question 1, A; and Question 2, B. You’d pull to the right in both cases. Swinging out to the left lane or shoulder (even if it seems like the closest, easiest way to get out of the way) invites a collision with the emergency vehicle, which will attempt to pass on the left. If there’s no shoulder or open lane on the right, inch over to the right side of your lane as best you can until the emergency vehicle passes.

And remember, before moving right, always use your signal to tell the emergency vehicle driver and other motorists what you’re about to do.

Question 3, B. In this case, continue on without stopping. On a divided highway, you don’t need to pull right and stop for an emergency vehicle that’s headed in the opposite direction.

Here’s a case where you DO want to pull left:

Both Washington and Oregon enforce “Move Over” laws (RCW 41.61.212 and ORS 811.147) to protect emergency workers like police officers, EMTs, and tow-truck drivers. When motorists see an emergency vehicle with flashing lights stopped on the shoulder, they must move left into the adjacent lane, if possible. If moving over isn’t safe (there’s oncoming traffic or no space to merge), drivers must slow down.

In 2010, Washington updated its Move Over law to clarify an emergency zone where drivers must change lanes or slow down 200 feet before passing a stopped emergency or assistance vehicle.

Kids’ Art in Pinehurst Pocket Park

For October, we have a beautiful rainbow drawn by seven year old Anna. She drew it at this year’s Pinehurstfest. Thanks, Anna, for bringing all the colors of the rainbow to the park!

Follow the rainbow to the kiosk in the park – it’s on the corner of NE 117th & 19th Ave NE.

If you would like to submit your child’s artwork for the Pocket Park, please email nancy@pinehurstseattle.org. We’ll put it on mat board donated by FRAMEIT Ltd, 10712 5th Ave NE.

Community Meeting on School Boundaries September 28th

Here is a write-up by neighbor Kim McCormick (for which thanks!) on the Seattle Public School boundaries issue.

Locally, there are two SPS-led community meetings taking place:

· Sept 28 (TONIGHT!), 6:30 pm, Olympic Hills Meeting (at Cedar Park)

· Oct 5, 6:30 pm, John Rogers Meeting (at John Rogers)

SPS is also holding regional community meetings.

There has been much going on in the world of school boundaries and Cedar Park! For those who are new to the topic, Seattle Public Schools approved new “Growth Boundaries” back in 2013. This capacity management plan is a series of annual boundary changes that are timed with the opening of new school buildings or additions. Both elementary school and middle school boundary changes are planned for 2017-18, with all elementary school boundary changes occurring in North Seattle. The boundary changes planned for 2017-18 are due, in part, to the planned opening of Cedar Park Elementary as an attendance area/assignment school.

SPS staff recently presented amendments to the previously-approved Growth Boundaries for 2017-18 to the School Board Operations Committee, and these amendments were referred the full School Board for review. This information may be found here. Amendments to the 2017-18 Growth Boundaries will be introduced during the October 12^th School Board meeting, and will be up for Board approval on November 2^nd.

SPS enrollment planning staff are currently recommending that the Cedar Park boundaries be amended, so that students living south of NE 125^th Street (east of Lake City Way) are retained at John Rogers. This lowers the projected initial enrollment at Cedar Park (the original boundaries over-loaded the building), and addresses a serious safety issue (crossing NE 125^th Street between 35^th and Sand Point Way). However, the amended boundaries do not address the equity issues around the opening of Cedar Park as an attendance area school. In fact, the recommended boundaries are projected to give Cedar Park an even higher percentage of students qualifying for Free/Reduced Lunch and English Language Learner services. Kevin Hilman has written a poignant blog entry on this topic.

SPS staff are also recommending that nearly all boundary changes affecting North Seattle elementary school children be implemented as “geo-splits,” where students are reassigned to their new attendance area’s school, instead of being grandfathered at their current school. If this recommendation is approved, Lake City area schools impacted by geo-splits will be: John Rogers, Olympic Hills, Sacajawea, and Olympic View. The exceptions to this recommended implementation are Wedgwood and View Ridge, where students are recommended to receive full grandfathering. This is an abrupt departure from previous boundary change implementation which granted full grandfathering as well as grandfathered transportation to all students. If the current recommendations are approved, over 800 students will be forced to change their elementary school assignment, mid-stream. Needless to say, this has caused an uproar.

It is now up to the Seattle School Board to review the latest recommendations, and, if deemed necessary, submit amendments for changes to the plan. Please contact me if you have any questions, and I will attempt to provide answers. Feedback should continue to be sent to the School Board (schoolboard@seattleschools.org) and SPS Enrollment Planning Staff (growthboundaries@seattleschools.org).

North Precinct Advisory Council Minutes for September 2016

This month’s speaker was Debbie Goetz from the Office of Emergency Management, part of Seattle Police Department. She spoke about emergency hubs, like the one in the parking lot at Fred Meyers. Pinehurst is working on setting up a hub, also. For a review of her talk, and more, read the minutes here.

Also, a crime dashboard for August and year-to-date was handed out. I don’t know what the range columns mean (I wasn’t at the meeting this month).

New North Precinct Building Kerfuffle

Recently some City Council members have questioned the design and budget of the building that will replace the old North Precinct police station near North Seattle College. The new building will be on Aurora at NE 129th St.

Also, Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat wrote an article August 16th questioning the cost and some of the design features. The North Precinct Advisory Council (NPAC) invited to its September meeting Doug Carey, Deputy Director, Department of Finance & Administrative Services for the City, to answer questions about the design and cost. He gave us a handout that responds to many of the items Westneat mentioned. You can read it here.

Also, a City Council member criticized NPAC for not advising the City well on this expensive project (and not being diverse enough), and not adequately reaching out to the public about it. However, he is mistaken about the role of NPAC. While NPAC supports a new North Precinct station, it was not a party to the design and was not tasked by the City to conduct outreach or gain public input. It merely gotten several updates on the design over the last 2.5 years. Just to set the record straight!

Provide Input for New Park

There’s planning afoot for property at NE 125th St & 33rd Ave NE. This Seattle Park District project will create a new neighborhood park. It was funded (by the new Seattle Parks District we voted into being a couple years ago) to provide the community access to open space within our high density urban neighborhood. The property has already been purchased and the old apartment building was demolished. In July there was a public input meeting about the park, and another meeting is coming up. What do you want in a nearby park? Go to a meeting September 29th and let Parks know! Here is the info below, and more info is on the projects website here.

August 2016 Pinehurst Crime Map

Here is a partial picture of Pinehurst property crime for the month. Click on the map to enlarge it.

You can see ALL the types of crime at http://web5.seattle.gov/mnm/policereports.aspx. Select the North neighborhood and enter a date range.

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