Public toilet no longer?

Our public vessel of crime, er toilet, may be going away. It sounds like a reasonable plan for the city given the $800K yearly maintenance costs and the fact that they aren’t exactly being used as intended.

Actually, given that ours is located in the lot of a vacant building, I’m not sure how Seattle City intended it to be used in the first place. There isn’t much of a reason to walk past it unless you’re on your way somewhere else… a somewhere else with a nicer bathroom to boot. (Note: Excluding bathrooms in bars on Pike/Pine.)

At first I was concerned that taking away this public bathroom would cause our alleys to become bathrooms instead. But then I remembered that our alleys are already bathrooms… specifically the one behind Half Price Books where I see people defecating at least once a month in broad daylight.

Maybe this will push the crime to the public toielts in Cal Anderson?

Pedestrian news; New police beats

Some news from the SeattlePI over the last couple of days...


Tread carefully during dark days: Winter sees more traffic accidents
I take offense with this headline!! Shouldn't it read: "Drive carefully during dark days"? Why is the impetus on the pedestrian?

I'm glad to hear Seattle has a really tough law where drivers who hit pedestrians can be charged with assault. In the words of our City Attorney, "I would love to deter people from actions that injure other people, like careless and overly aggressive driving. They have to know it can have consequences. I would love this to be a deterrent to get people to slow down and obey the traffic laws. I hope it becomes the law statewide."

Our Pike/Broadway intersection is listed as one of the top 5 locations for traffic accidents.

Pine Street Zigzag could see changes
This would be nice... there are some unspecified changes that are going to be made to that stretch of Pine (just above Boren) where you have to walk on the South side of the street. I personally avoid this area for that reason, opting to shoot up Pike and through the dog park and instead on my walk home from work.

Seattle police working to a new set of beats
I noticed a police officer in the parking lot of Half Price Books last night and thought it was an odd place for him to be hanging out. I thought maybe it was just a general increase in patrols given the murder on 15th, but according to this article maybe it had something to do with the new beat zoning... Either way it was a welcome sight last night as that area can be really dark.

Thoughts on the NYE Murder

I haven't posted on the NYE murder of Shannon Harps on this blog yet, because, well, everyone else pretty much as it covered.

I'm obviously saddened by the events and I can't help but look at my neighbors a little differently now. At least until the suspect is taken into custody. (Note: Comments on the Capitol Hill Seattle blog indicate that this may have happened.)

There's a community meeting being set up if you want to talk about it and get more information. (Check the CHS blog for details.) I think it's a nice way for the community to come together, even if the suspect is taken into custody before it occurs. Unfortunately I will be out of town and cannot attend.

Reading about Shannon Harps' life reminds me of the great community we have here on Capitol Hill. We live among activists, creatives, families, students, professionals... We lost someone who was obviously a great addition to the neighborhood.

That said, I was really disappointed to hear some of the criticism of our homeless population when it was speculated that it was a random homeless person who committed the murder. We live in an urban environment where having homelessness is inevitable. There are lots of resources on the hill that help this population, which I welcome and wish I knew more about. (Here's a long list of them.)

So... I have an idea that I'm not sure if I'll be brave enough to carry out. I'd like do some random interviews on Broadway of the nice people who live in (or frequent) our neighborhood... Just grab people and ask them some questions, snap a photo and send them on their way. (I'll try not to turn into the Green Peace volunteers in front of QFC... hmm, they'd be fun to interview.)

Let me know if you have any ideas for questions to ask or interesting Broadway people (you know the ones that are always popping up) to interview.

I think it's very sad that we only heard about Shannon after her death. But I'm inspired to get out there and meet my neighbors...