Rainier Beach Public Safety: We are convening a Neighborhood Action Team (NATS) focused on the Rainier/Henderson Street corridor. The Department of Neighborhoods will lead the NATS and partner with the SPD South Precinct, City Light, Parks, Office of Economic Development, SDOT, Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, Metro, and the Seattle School District.
The NATS process involves identifying problems, developing strategies, and setting short term goals to address immediate public safety concerns in the neighborhood. We need community partners to make this effort successful. Please contact Pamela Banks at pamela.banks@seattle.gov or (206) 233-5044 if you’re interested in getting involved.
Other ways to get involved:
- The Southeast Crime Prevention Council meets the first Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. at Southeast Senior Center. Contact president Pat Murakami for more information at pat@networksupportgroup.net.
- The South Precinct Advisory Council meets the third Wednesday of the month at Park Place Dining Hall, 6900 37th Ave S. Please contact Captain Dave Emerick at David.emerick@seattle.gov.
- The Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative is always looking for people to donate their time, talent or treasure. Please contact Heidi Henderson-Lewis at hhendersonlewis@positiveplace.org or (206) 436-1898.
Rainier Beach Community Center: As you know, Rainier Beach Community Center and Pool is slated to close at the end of December 2010 for demolition. A new community center and pool will be rebuilt at the same location. The site was impacted when Seattle Public Schools demolished half of the joint use building prior to constructing a new school. The new school is on the same property but separate from the pool and community center.
Parks and Recreation apologizes for the inconvenience to center users that the construction will cause. They have a list on their website listing programs affected during construction. Please bear with us and keep in mind that a beautiful, brand new community center and pool will open in the fall of 2012 to provide full services to the community.
East-West Arterial Traffic: There were a couple of questions about Light Rail and its impact on traffic on the arterials running east and west across it. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has been collecting data on volumes, speeds and vehicular classifications during the week of Oct 26 – Nov 2. SDOT will be able to compare this to similar data from July 2009, prior to the opening of light rail. By mid-November we should be able to send an update to this list.
There was also concern about Police and Fire response time on Columbian Way and Othello potentially being impacted by light rail and center turn lane projects. Both the Police and Fire Departments have signal priority over Light Rail and participated in the street design process. Generally speaking, streets with a center turn lane provide improved access to response vehicles because they can use the center lane to move around traffic.
The South Othello Street Project is a project that the community submitted funding for as a Neighborhood Street Fund (NSF) project in 2009. It was prioritized by the Southeast District Council for consideration (each district could pick up to three projects); SDOT conducted a preliminary evaluation/cost estimate in April 2010 and the Bridging the Gap Oversight. The committee made difficult choices of what projects to recommend to the Mayor’s Office and City Council for funding. They selected the S. Othello Street project out of 37 projects and as a result $675,000 was allocated for improvements including the addition of a center turn lane for part of its length.
Sound Transit Surplus Properties: Several attendees expressed a desire for activation of the surplus properties owned by Sound Transit. I raised these concerns at a Sound Transit Executive Committee meeting. You can watch a video of that section of the meeting.
Othello Park Lighting: Taking comments made about Othello Park into consideration, Acting Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams, along with other Seattle Parks & Recreation staff members met with several neighbors at Othello Playground on the evening of October 7 to discuss lighting and vegetation in the park. As a result, the design consultants are including in their plan these concerns as well as concerns raised by other community members who have been participating in the public process.
The next public meeting to review Othello Park improvements will take place Monday, November 8th from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Van Asselt Community Center – 2820 S Myrtle Street. Click here for more information on this project.
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