collected by Antonio Foster

More than 200 strong Line South Shore’s walkway to debunk Black male stereotypes

In a dynamic family engagement event early this morning, Rainier Beach’s South Shore PK-8 saw more than 200 Black males line its walkways to welcome every student entering its doors with an enthusiastic “high five”.

The event was held in honor of the school’s 8^th annual celebration of National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID). After the greeting local families, community members, an elected officials including King County Councilmember Larry Gossett and Seattle Councilmember Bruce Harrell participated in programs extending throughout the day.

Anthony Shoecraft, who assisted in organizing the event, said one of its main goals was to reframe the social and racial narrative concerning Black men by exposing students to the diversity of Black male excellence.

“It is a complete myth that black men do not care about the education of their children. Today further displayed that we have a community committed to their development,” said Councilmember Harrell.

The Seattle Times coverage of the event can be read here.

King County to invest more than $20 million in South Seattle Clean Water Projects.

With the specter of Flint, MI hanging over municipalities nationwide, King County has announced that it will invest more than $20 million in South Seattle based sewer improvement projects, as part of a larger $197 million package for clean water projects county-wide.

King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division will upgrade aging facilities so they continue to operate reliably and adding new capacity to serve the region’s rapidly growing population.

The two South Seattle based projects are as follows:

Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station: King County will invest $13.4 million to continue design on a new facility in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood that will treat up to 70 million gallons of stormwater and sewage that currently flows directly into the Duwamish River during heavy rains.

Rainier Valley Wet Weather Storage Project: In 2016, King County is budgeting $9.7 million to begin construction a new underground tank and sewer pipelines in Seattle’s North Beacon Hill and Columbia City neighborhoods, which will control overflows of stormwater and sewage into the Duwamish River during heavy rains.

Other priorities include investments in projects that will support the cleanup of Puget Sound and the Lower Duwamish Waterway, and control overflows of stormwater mixed with sewage during heavy rains.

Two Burglars arrested after Rainier Beach Robbery

Two burglars were arrested Friday night in Rainier Beach, after the men got their first stolen getaway car stuck in the mud, crashed a second and fled into Lake Washington. Officers quickly found the men: one damp and pants-less at a condo complex where he had pulled a fire alarm to try and cover his escape; the other was discovered soaked and sitting outside a magic shop.

A neighbor in the 8300 block of Wolcott Ave S called police around 10 PM after seeing two suspicious men moving items into a car. The neighbor reported the suspects, who had arrived at the scene in Volkswagen Golf–which later became stuck in the mud–drove off in a Honda Civic.

Officers spotted the suspects driving near Cloverdale and Seward Park Avenue South and began following them. The men began swerving around other vehicles on the road, and refused to pull over when officers activated their red and blue lights.

As the suspects sped away from police, they hit a curb at Seward Park Ave S and Rainier Ave S, crossed through a parking lot and crashed into a fence and mailboxes before dropping down an embankment, where they came to rest on top of a parked BMW.

The two suspects took off running and apparently dove into Lake Washington, as officers quickly found a very damp suspect–a 22-year-old man, believed to be the passenger in the stolen car–sitting on a bench in a locked, fenced area outside a magic shop in the 9400 block of Rainier Ave S.

Police also followed a set of wet footprints into a condo complex in the 9500 block of Rainier Ave S, where they found residents hurrying out into the street as their buildings’ fire alarm blared.

Officers followed the wet footprints up a staircase to the sixth floor of the building, where police found a suspect’s jacket, not far from where the building’s fire alarm had been pulled.

Police eventually found another the second suspect, a 26-year-old man, in the condo complex’s electrical room. He refused to surrender to police, so after some negotiation, officers forced their way in and arrested the damp suspect, who had removed his pants. Police later searched his pants and found he had a knife and set of brass knuckles.

Officers found the suspects’ Volkswagen and Honda were reported stolen outside of Seattle, and booked both men into the King County Jail for a variety of crimes, including burglary, auto theft, eluding, malicious mischief and possession of stolen property.

(via SPD Blotter)