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Our new North Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator is ready to start meeting with us! Mary Amberg can help start block watches, come talk about crime prevention at meetings, and do home security assessments. Her contact info is at the bottom. Here’s a flyer she handed out at the NPAC meeting:
Block Watch is a program based on the principle that neighbors working together are the first and best line of defense against crime.
How Does Block Watch Work?
Block Watch requires two basic commitments:
- A commitment to be concerned about your neighbor’s property and well-being as well as your own.
- A commitment to report suspicious activity and take action by alerting your neighbors and calling 9-1-1.
Is Block Watch a Lot of Extra Work?
Block Watch doesn’t require you to perform any special tasks, go to a lot of meetings, or take on extra responsibilities. You don’t have to patrol the neighborhood, or spy on your neighbors.
Block Watch requires that you and your neighbors be familiar enough with each other to recognize when something suspicious is going on. Block Watch involves being alert. Make this a part of your everyday life. When you see something suspicious, alert your neighbors and the police.
How Do I Get a Block Watch Started?
Contact our Crime Prevention Coordinator – see below – for potential dates and times to have the coordinator meet with you and your neighbors. Once you have a date, place and time that works for you, invite your neighbors to come. It helps to invite all the neighbors in person. The meeting does not necessarily have to be at your home or a neighbor’s home; it could be at the local library, community center, school or church. The number of households and the size of the area you want to include are up to you.
At the initial meeting you’ll discuss area crime, crime trends, prevention measures and proactive things that neighbors can do to positively impact public safety. The Crime Prevention Coordinator will bring printed resource materials for you and your neighbors. A sign-up sheet gets passed around for neighbors to list their contact information (name, address, phone, email). The sheet becomes the basis for your block watch map or telephone tree.
For additional information and support for your block watch, follow this link: http://www.seattle.gov/police/blockwatch
Or please contact our North Seattle Crime Prevention Coordinator:
Mary Amberg
206-684-7711
mary.amberg@seattle.gov
The deadline is February 8th for the Neighborhood Park and Street Fund. This is a $90,000 grant that builds small projects in the neighborhood. This won’t build sidewalks. Especially not anymore. We’ve tried. Repeatedly. But it does do other smaller safety projects. You can see some examples of 2015 projects as well as some other more general examples below.
Do you have something you want to see changed/fixed/built? If so, it’s a really easy process. It’s a very short online form. And the Pinehurst Community Council is very willing and eager to help. Email me at phillip@pinehurstseattle.org, even if it’s just an idea.
Park projects:
- Accessibility improvements
- Trail/path maintenance and upgrades
- Park benches or tables
- Natural area renovations
- Minor playground improvements
Street projects:
More details here:
http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/neighborhood-park-and-street-fund
 Heroin and meth related deaths in King County have risen sharply since 2013, as have heroin related admissions to substance abuse treatment programs. One way these increases are showing up in our communities is as an increase in used and discarded needles in public places.
Do you encounter used syringes discarded in the neighborhood? Discarded needles in public areas are a health and safety danger. For needle removal in parks we can call Seattle Parks Department’s maintenance request line at 206-684-7250. For needles on other city-owned land or facilities we can call the SPU illegal dumping hotline at 206-684-7587 Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm.
BUT, if you would like to learn how to safely pick up and dispose of needles you encounter on your walks, you can register for a free training session.
When: Saturday, February 20, 2016, 10:00 am to 11:00 am
Where: University Masonic Lodge, 4338 University Way NE (next to Bartells)
For more information and to RSVP, contact Michael Cuadra at mccuadra@msn.com.
Joe Tinsley, Needle Exchange Coordinator for Seattle-King County Public Health, will talk about the risks, proper handling, and disposal of used needles.
While supplies last, free sharps containers and tools to pick up the needles safely will be available to take home.
This event was developed by the Social Services Committee of the North Precinct Advisory Council, and the free tools are funded by a grant from the University Masonic Lodge.
I (nancy@pinehurstseattle.org) will attend the training as Pinehurst Community Council’s Adopt-A-Street leader, but others are welcome!
 Pinehurst Community Council meets four times a year. Well, in the summer we host Pinehurstfest instead of having a meeting, so actually it’s really three times a year. Usually the meetings are in the Pinehurst Playground shelter house in early evening on a weekday.
What would you like future discussions/topics to be? We have had some interesting guest speakers in the past from SDOT, SPD, Dept of Neighborhoods and more. Is there anyone you’d like to hear from? Or is there something you’d like the community to discuss among ourselves? What are your issues in our neighborhood that could be addressed at a community council meeting?
Do you have any meeting format suggestions? What would encourage you to come to these meetings? We want to hear from you!
Leave comments on this post, or, if you wish, email us at info@pinehurstseattle.org.
Thanks!
 City Councilmember Tim Burgess made this report on a briefing SPD gave to the Council January 27th. I put in bold one paragraph and our North Precinct line items in the charts:
The City Council’s public safety committee was briefed yesterday on police department response times to high priority 911 calls. It was refreshingly transparent and candid.
The briefing was prompted by an article in The Seattle Times on January 2 that contrasted SPD’s stated goal of responding within seven minutes to the highest priority 911 calls against the reality the Times analysis of response times revealed. (911 calls labeled Priority 1 involve incidents creating risk to life or serious injury, crimes in progress, officer or firefighter safety, and other emergency events.)
I remember attending many similar briefings over the past eight years and hearing police leadership repeat over and over again that they met the seven minute standard consistently and city-wide. Yesterday, we heard a very different report.
Unfortunately, the former leadership in SPD used a calculation methodology that arbitrarily and artificially lowered response time figures.* While this method allowed them to claim they were meeting their goal, it did not match what Seattle residents expected or experienced. Chief Kathy O’Toole and her leadership team acknowledged yesterday that the Times article prompted them to look more closely at the calculations and provide a more accurate assessment. Bravo to Chief O’Toole and her team.
Before sharing the new numbers, it’s important to keep several factors in mind.
First, average response times do not necessarily reflect the quality of police work, nor does getting to the scene of an incident faster necessarily lead to more arrests or a reduction in crime. At best, response times are one factor to be considered—among many—when making decisions about officer deployment.
Second, how response times are calculated is very important. Seattle measures response times from the moment 911 call information is sent to a dispatcher to the moment an officer reports arriving at the scene of the incident. Not included in this calculation is the time it takes the 911 operator to receive the call, determine the nature of the incident, and enter the details into the 911 dispatch database, a period of time that could last seconds to a minute or more.
Average Response Times to Priority 1 911 Calls
Between 2010 and 2015, the citywide average response time to Priority 1 911 calls increased from approximately eight minutes to nearly nine and a half minutes. But, as the following table shows there are significant differences by police precinct. (You can view the police precinct maps here.)
| Precinct |
2010 |
2015 |
% change |
| East |
6:21 |
7:17 |
15% |
| North |
9:07 |
11:32 |
27% |
| South |
8:28 |
8:36 |
2% |
| Southwest |
9:04 |
10:20 |
14% |
| West |
7:23 |
8:42 |
18% |
(Note: we have changed the numbers provided by SPD from decimals into minutes:seconds.)
911 Call Volumes
Police service demand as measured by 911 calls has increased 13% over the past five years. But, as the next table shows, Priority 1 911 calls have increased 52% in the same period of time, indicating a shift in our officers’ work load. Non-Priority 1 911 calls have risen only 7% in the past five years.
The sharp increase in Priority 1 calls shows that the nature of work for patrol officers is shifting, with more time being spent on more serious incidents. All other things being equal, this inevitably means that lower priority calls get slower response times.
| All 911 Calls |
|
|
|
| Precinct |
2010 |
2015 |
% change |
| East |
35,349 |
40,456 |
14% |
| North |
67,781 |
75,629 |
12% |
| South |
40,432 |
39,078 |
-3% |
| Southwest |
23,175 |
26,581 |
15% |
| West |
55,059 |
68,841 |
25% |
| Citywide |
221,796 |
250,585 |
13% |
| |
|
|
|
| Priority 1 Calls |
|
|
|
| Precinct |
2010 |
2015 |
% change |
| East |
4,524 |
7,163 |
58% |
| North |
8,070 |
12,993 |
61% |
| South |
5,225 |
7,275 |
39% |
| Southwest |
3,379 |
4,900 |
45% |
| West |
7,129 |
10,850 |
52% |
| Citywide |
28,327 |
43,181 |
52% |
| |
|
|
|
| All Other Calls |
|
|
|
| Precinct |
2010 |
2015 |
% change |
| East |
30,825 |
33,293 |
8% |
| North |
59,711 |
62,636 |
5% |
| South |
35,207 |
31,803 |
-10% |
| Southwest |
19,796 |
21,681 |
10% |
| West |
47,930 |
57,991 |
21% |
| Citywide |
193,469 |
207,404 |
7% |
Well, what do we have here?
Please feel free to send in photos of art – or anything unexpected and fun – you see on your walks around the neighborhood to info@pinehurstseattle.org.
Saltanat drew this month’s picture at Pinehurstfest. Sun and flowers are things to look forward to at this time of year. Thanks, Satlanat, for reminding us that spring is coming! The picture is in the kiosk at the park at NE 117th St and 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.
Christ the King School is presenting “Shrek Jr., The Musical” in March
Thursday, March 17th at 7pm
Friday, March 18th at 7pm
Saturday, March 19th at 2pm and 7pm
Shoreline Community College Theater (16101 Greenwood Ave N)
The show is 90 minutes with an intermission. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at http://school.ckseattle.org/the-musical
If you’ve been to Pinehurstfest, you’ve enjoyed the live bands that Eric Madis has recruited for us, and sometimes he plays there as well. Now you can hear him in concert!
Eric Madis
at the
Easy Monkey Taphouse
(17537 15th NE, Shoreline, 206-420-1326)
A spectrum of acoustic blues, unique instrumentals
and Hawaiian slack key at this North City/Shoreline
gem of a club.
Friday, January 29 8-10 PM
 What is a skills fair? It’s a day of sharing practical skills with our neighbors – there will be short workshops on a wide variety of skills, from knitting to basic carpentry to soil building. The day will include a homemade soup luncheon with speakers Anne Biklé and David Montgomery, authors of ‘The Hidden Half of Nature’.
When: Saturday, February 6, 2016, Skills workshops from 10 am -5 pm, Lunch at 12:30 pm
Where: Meadowbrook Community Center, 10517 35th Ave NE
CHECK THE WORKSHOP SCHEDULE AT:
http://sustainableneseattle.org/event/handson2016
This is the sixth annual fair. It’s co-created by Meadowbrook Community Center and Sustainable NE Seattle. The mission of Sustainable NE Seattle is to support the transition of our community toward resilience and sustainability:
Building resilience – If we can build a neighborhood where we know how to take care of our needs close to home we are more likely to do well in difficult times
Growing Community – If we work together, share resources, eat and celebrate together, our community fabric grows stronger!
Reducing waste – If we can re-purpose that old sweater, it stays out of the landfill. Categories for class offerings Growing Food Fiber Arts and Crafts Cooking and Baking Repair and Maintenance Digital skills Bikes Resource Conservation Techniques Make your own…, etc.
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