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 The Lake City Emergency Communication Hub will be participating in a City-wide field exercise, No Power, No Bars—the total and unexplained loss of our regional power grid—on Saturday April 28 from 9 am – 11:30 am. We hope you will attend this exercise. The Lake City Hub is located at the Lake City Fred Meyer Store, in the SE corner of the lower parking lot.
Why No Power, No Bars?
We’ve seen and heard about the effects of sustained loss of electricity in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria. Something like that could happen here. In this No Power, No Bars exercise there is no structural storm or earthquake damage—simply no power. The implications of No Power are great—no heat, no cooking on electric stoves, no refrigeration, no credit card transactions, no pumping gasoline for vehicles (or generators), no traffic lights. Are our water lines and sewer lines dependent on electricity for pumping? Without back-up generators, elevators won’t work so people with mobility issues could be trapped in their apartment homes—or unable to get back into their apartment homes. At some point back-up generators will run out of fuel. The No Bars part of the exercise is about communication. Voice over internet protocol phones (like Comcast and Century Link) will not work although true landline phones may work. Police and Fire use the same cell towers we all use. The cell phone system will be jammed with users so calls from most of us will not get through as connectivity will be restricted to official and emergency use. The Internet will be down. Radio and TV stations may be unable to broadcast. Amateur (ham) radio communication will be working.
We want to find out and learn how neighbor connectivity could help with a response should we have a major regional power outage. The Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs and the Seattle Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS—the ham radio volunteer unit for the City) are conducting this field exercise.
The Hubs will practice passing information on to the community at Hub locations and also matching volunteer skills, information, and resources with people looking for the same. We know we will be dependent on each other in the case of a major disaster here in Seattle, so we are working to prepare in advance of that situation. And we want to help you and your family and your neighborhood also be prepared.
Your help is needed! Join the Lake City Hub as a volunteer to learn how you can help your neighbors in a disaster. Join us as an “actor” to use prepared messages that will challenge the Hub volunteers to help solve the problem. Stop by the Lake City Hub’s Education Tent and learn to deal with some of the situations we will all face. We would greatly appreciate your support!
 This month’s guest speaker canceled unexpectedly.
The North Precinct picnic will be Saturday, August 18. Mark your calendars!
The National Night Out block parties for public safety will be Tuesday, August 7. Mark your calendars for this one, too! You can apply for a Small Sparks grant to pay for part of your event, usually starting in June. For info click here.
NP was given funds for 300 additional hours of overtime in April. 100 of the hours are being used to focus on the Northgate Mall area, for issues such as car prowl, car theft, trespass, activities at the Metro Transit station, etc.
During the Captain’s report, acting captain Lt. Abe Barker said,
“Don’t give up on calling SPD. Do call 911 if you see suspicious activity. It’s true that if there aren’t enough officers available, there can be a delay to get someone there. And even after calls are triaged, new calls coming in may be higher priority and bump your call down in priority. The importance of calling, besides getting police to respond, is to log the problem in the database so the precinct can see what’s going on around the neighborhoods. It uses data to allocate patrols and assign temporary special emphasis efforts. So even if you’ve had a crime that is unlikely to be solved, such as a car prowl, call it in so statistics on car prowls are more accurate. Or in that case, reporting it on-line would work, so you don’t have to wait for an officer to come out to take the report.”
Read all the minutes here.
How to Control Invasive Weeds in the Watershed
- Karen Peterson and Ben Peterson from King County will speak about invasive weed management.
- Knotweed Knockout – John Lombard of the TCA Board will update everyone on our undertaking to bring invasive knotweed under control in the Thornton Creek watershed.
Thursday April 19, 2018
Maple Leaf Lutheran Church – 10005 32nd Ave. NE, Seattle
6:30 pm social time
7:00 pm – 8:15 educational meeting
8:15 – 9:00 TCA elections and business
 Egg hunts for kids to search for candy and plastic eggs are available around Seattle, most on Saturday, March 31. For all egg-hunt events, organizers ask families to bring a bag or basket for each child and arrive 15 minutes before starting time. This allows time to find the starting place, which may vary by children’s ages, and be ready to go at the listed time.
Woodland Park Zoo Bunny Bounce
SAT Egg hunts for kids, bunny encounters, treat baskets for zoo animals, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Woodland Park Zoo, 5500 Phinney Ave. N., Seattle; included with zoo admission, $9.95-$14.95, ages 2 and younger free (206-548-2500 or zoo.org).
Spring Egg Hunt, Ravenna-Eckstein
SAT Live bunnies, hunt for treats for ages 12 and younger, 10 a.m. Saturday, Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center, 6535 Ravenna Ave. N.E., Seattle (206-684-7534).
Spring Egg Hunt, Bitter Lake
SAT Egg hunt for ages 2-10 by age group, 10 a.m. Saturday, Bitter Lake Annex, 13040 Greenwood Ave. N., Seattle; free, nonperishable food bank donations collected (206-684-7524).
Spring Egg Hunt, Laurelhurst
SAT Egg hunt for ages 12 and younger, bake sale; 10 a.m. Saturday, Laurelhurst Park, 4544 N.E. 41st St., Seattle; free with canned food bank donation (206-684-7529).
Spring Egg Hunt, Meadowbrook
SAT Treats and prizes for ages 12 and younger, 10 a.m. Saturday, Nathan Hale Playfield, 10750 30th Ave. N.E., Seattle (206-684-7522).
Spring Egg Scramble, Green Lake
SAT Meet in the gym by age group, ages 1-3, 10 a.m.; ages 4-6, 10:30 a.m.; ages 7-10, 11 a.m. Saturday, Green Lake Community Center, 7201 E. Green Lake Drive N., Seattle; nonperishable food bank donations collected (206-684-0780).
 Parks Department has taken over management of the Lake City Community Center as of January 1, 2018. This is an opportunity to meet the Lake City staff, learn about new and planned programs, and hopefully hear about the plans for a new Lake City Community Center building. Plus the staff will listen to your ideas for programs and facilities.
 SDOT has updates on some of the planned traffic/pedestrian safety projects in Pinehurst. Namely:
* NE 117th / Pinehurst / 15th Ave NE new traffic signal
* NE 117th new sidewalk
* NE 115th St new sidewalk
* 12th Ave NE new sidewalk
Come hear the news from SDOT on Wednesday, March 14, 6 – 7:30 pm at Amante Pizza & Pasta, 12319 Roosevelt Way NE.
 This month’s guest speaker was SPD Chief Carmen Best, who’s interim chief until a new one is hired. She’s been with the force for 26 years. She laid out her priorities:
– Reduce crime and disorder
– Excellent service, doing work the community expects and wants
– Work with honor and professionalism, and to feel proud of working for SPD
– Business efficiency. Budget is $352 million; be thoughtful about spending
it wisely
– Data-driven policies and practices – use technology to do a better job
getting information to officers and the community; deploying resources;
solving crimes
For the North Precinct Captain’s report, he said that person crimes are up 14% year to date compared to last year’s YTD, and property crimes are down 8%. He noted that Lake City and around Northgate Mall (I-5 to Roosevelt Way NE between NE 92nd St & NE 115th St) have seen an uptick in crime so those areas have been receiving more SPD attention, as well as a few other areas in the north end.
For more comments and questions answered by Chief Best and more precinct news and crime statistics, read the minutes. The minutes are here.
 How do you turn right across a bike lane? In Washington you’ll want to check for and yield to bicyclists, then merge INTO the bike lane so you’re making your right turn from the curb.
Washington’s law on right turns directs the driver to make the turn from “as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway.” That brings up a question – on a road with a bike lane, is the edge of the roadway the line that separates the car lane from the bike lane, or is it the curb? According to the Revised Code of Washington, the roadway is the portion of the highway “ordinarily used for vehicular travel.” Since a bicycle is considered a vehicle in the law, a bike lane is used for vehicular travel. That would imply that drivers should merge into the bike lane to make a right turn. However, many drivers understand a solid line in the roadway to mean “do not cross,” which confuses the situation. Many states have clear statutes regarding right turns and bike lanes; Washington doesn’t.
On a national level, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices encourages road designers to use dotted lines on bike lanes as they near intersections so drivers know they can move into the bike lane prior to the intersection. Here’s how it works: The driver signals a right turn, checks the bike lane for cyclists and, if clear, moves right. If a bike rider is in the lane, the car yields to the bike and then moves into the lane. A cyclist in the bike lane intending to turn right would stop behind the car instead of pulling up next to it on the right. A cyclist intending to go straight would go around the LEFT side of the car.
Locally, traffic engineers are designing new bike lanes to include dotted lines at intersections, but we still have plenty of lanes with solid lines. So what do you do if you’re intending to turn right and there’s a solid white stripe for the bike lane? The law supports merging into the bike lane, but some motorists and cyclists may not expect it. Use caution and give each other a bit of grace; drivers and riders are still learning to coexist on the roads.
Note that a car is not allowed to drive in a bike lane except when making a right turn. You may not drive in a bike lane to pass on the right to get around a car turning left.
This is from an article in the Bellingham Herald.
SDOT is hosting three informal drop-in sessions for the Northgate Ped/Bike Bridge project later this month. SDOT recently updated the west approach to the bridge, in response to concerns raised by North Seattle College. At these drop-in sessions, SDOT will share the latest design, provide updates on public art, talk about the 1st Ave NE protected bike lane, and give information on SEPA environmental review.
Here are the details:
Monday, March 19: 12 – 1:30 PM
North Seattle College, The Grove, 9600 College Way N
Tuesday, March 20: 8 – 9:30 AM
Aljoya Thornton Place, 450 NE 100th St
Wednesday, March 21: 5 – 6:30 PM
Neighborcare Health at Meridian, Room 110, 10521 Meridian Ave N
Drop-in sessions are opportunities for you to speak with project staff in an informal setting when it’s convenient for you. If you can’t make one of these events, SDOT will also post the same information on its project webpage as soon as March 12.
SDOT will soon complete SEPA environmental review and will issue a Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance (MDNS) and SEPA checklist in March. There will be a 14-day public comment period followed by a 7-day appeal period on the MDNS and SEPA checklist. SDOT will notify the community when the SEPA documents are issued, where to find them, what the comment period dates are, and how to comment on its website and through its project email listserv.
This month’s art in Pinehurst Pocket Park is a lovely moose, drawn by five year old Greta. It least she was five two Pinehurstfests ago when she drew it! You can see this in the kiosk at NE 117th St & 19th Ave NE. Thanks, Greta! P.S. want to make another picture for the park now that you’re older? We’d love it!
If you would like to submit your child’s artwork (or yours!) for the Pocket Park, please email nancy@pinehurstseattle.org.
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