West Seattle, Washington
27 Wednesday
We’re just back from the Morgan Junction Starbucks, where the Mariner Moose has arrived. As announced last month, this is the latest stop on the Mariners’ “March to Opening Day” regional tour, starring the team mascot. You can stop by the shop (southwest corner of California and Fauntleroy) until 11 am to see The Moose. They’re giving away T-shirts, hats, and Starbucks gift cards, plus a drawing for tickets. The Mariners’ home opener is two weeks from today – Thursday, March 28, vs. the Boston Red Sox.
If you, or family members, are considering a senior-living move, and interested in independent living, you’ll want to visit Village Green West Seattle (WSB sponsor) to tour the Parkview Senior Residences tomorrow (Friday, March 15). 2-6 pm, you are welcome to visit for an open house and tours, with light refreshments and entertainment. Village Green says Parkview offers “comfortable community living … private, spacious residences in an independent setting, complete with full kitchens and in home laundry.” They’re at 2615 SW Barton. Questions before you go? 206-937-6122 or WSinfo@villagegreenretirement.com.
6:00 AM: Good morning! It’s Thursday, March 14th.
WEATHER + SUNRISE/SUNSET TIMES
Getting warmer! Mostly sunny today, high in the mid-50s. Sunrise will be at 7:23 am, sunset at 7:14 pm.
ROAD-WORK ALERT
One more reminder about work starting on the north section of the East Marginal Way project.
TRANSIT NOTES
Metro today – Regular schedule; check advisories here.
Water Taxi today – Regular schedule. Check the real-time map if you need to see where the boat is.
Washington State Ferries today – The usual 2 boats on the Triangle Route. Per WSF alerts, “Due to some unplanned bridgework maintenance at the Fauntleroy terminal, single-lane loading and off-loading will be occurring until further notice.” Use the real-time map to see where your ferry is.
SPOTLIGHT TRAFFIC CAMERAS
Delridge cameras: Besides the one below (Delridge/Orchard), cameras are also at Delridge/Genesee, Delridge/Juneau, Delridge/Henderson, and Delridge/Oregon.
High Bridge – the main camera:
High Bridge – the view from its southwest end (when SDOT points the 35th/Avalon/Fauntleroy camera that way):
Low Bridge:
1st Ave. S. Bridge:
Highway 99: – northbound side at Lander:
MORE TRAFFIC CAMS: All functioning traffic cams citywide are here; West Seattle and vicinity-relevant cameras are on this WSB page.
BRIDGE INFO: The @SDOTBridges feed on X (ex-Twitter) shows whether the city’s movable bridges are opening for vessel traffic.
If you see a problem on the bridges/streets/paths/water, please text or call us (when you can do that safely, and after you’ve reported to authorities if they’re not already on scene). Thank you!
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
For the third time in a week, District 1 City Councilmember Rob Saka sat down this afternoon to talk with a group of West Seattle constituents.
Last Wednesday, it was the District 1 Community Network; last night, it was the Admiral Neighborhood Association; today, it was a group of more than a dozen people, primarily small-business proprietors, gathered by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce.
Saka heard a lot about public safety and street disorder. But he also got an earful about the effects of a relatively new city law co-sponsored by his D-1 predecessor Lisa Herbold – the App-Based Worker Minimum Payment Ordinance that took effect in January, which some restaurateurs say has resulted in delivery costs going up and business going down.
Today’s gathering was part of a small-business-focused “listening tour” that Saka says is spanning the five neighborhoods in D-1; he’s already been to Pioneer Square, SODO, and Georgetown, and will finish the tour in South Park. Today’s West Seattle participants gathered with Saka (who was accompanied by chief of staff Elaine Ikoma Ko and district-relations director Leyla Gheisar) at Realfine Coffee‘s 35th/Kenyon shop.
(WSB photos. Councilmember Saka with Elliott Bay’s Todd Carden, Easy Street’s Matt Vaughan, and in background Realfine’s Julie Mierzwiak)
After some introductory chatting and coffee orders, the group trooped a few doors down to The Westy to hear from Saka, followed by Q&A.
The question is often asked: What are city leaders actually doing to improve public safety? Mayor Bruce Harrell has announced a series of community forums to try to answer that question. The first is tomorrow night (Thursday, March 14), 6-7:30 pm. In-person attendance at the downtown library is already maxed out but it’ll be streamed live via Seattle Channel (with a recording available afterward). The mayor will talk with moderator Enrique Cerna, and a panel discussion featuring other leaders including the city’s three public-safety chiefs – CARE Chief Amy Smith, Fire Chief Harold Scoggins, Police Chief Adrian Diaz – will follow. Next month, forums are promised in all five SPD precinct areas, so that means there’ll be one in West Seattle/South Park, though specific dates and locations haven’t yet been announced. The forums are described as “open discussion(s) about community safety challenges, accomplishments, and opportunities.”
(July 2023 framegrab from SDOT traffic camera)
Last July, we reported on a deadly shooting with two scenes, miles apart – it happened near Delridge Library but the victim, 26-year-old Rayshawn Parker, was found in a crashed car at the eastbound West Seattle Bridge’s 4th Avenue exit. Today, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced that two suspects are charged with murdering Mr. Parker — 17-year-old Tacoma resident Lederian N. Thomas and 22-year-old West Seattle resident Derrion M. Lewis, who is already in jail, charged in two other murders that happened in South King County days after this one. The charging documents also appear to solve a non-injury shooting in West Seattle earlier in the day.
The charging papers total 16 pages. Here’s the distillation: Investigators believe the Delridge murder was the result of an “orchestrate(d) … gunfight with rival gang members” at the gas station south of the library, which left behind “over fifty shell casings from three different caliber handguns” while the victim, mortally wounded, sped away in his SUV, crashed at the offramp, and collapsed to the ground. The next morning, a shot-up Chrysler was discovered in Tukwila and impounded; fingerprints found in it traced to Lewis and the vehicle’s owner, a Westwood resident with whom he was believed to be in a relationship at the time. Investigators also say that a week earlier, during a “separate investigation,” Lewis was seen driving the same vehicle to a meeting with his Department of Corrections case officer at the DOC’s office near 35th/Morgan. (Both he and Thomas have records).
The narrative details hours of taunting social-media videos Lewis allegedly recorded leading up to the gas-station shootout, apparently trying to goad rivals – he and Thomas are described as members of a different gang from the victim. And it links Lewis to the non-injury shooting that closed down 35th SW near Findlay hours before the Delridge murder (here’s our coverage of that gunfire incident). Evidence cited in the charges includes ballistics matches, cell-phone records, and social-media posts (primarily Instagram).
The KCPAO says both are in custody, charged with second-degree murder; online records show Lewis has been in jail since last August 1st, but since juvenile-detention records are not available online, we don’t know how long Thomas has been held – he is charged as an adult, though. Both are scheduled for arraignment March 25.
UPDATE: SPD says Thomas was arrested this past Tuesday.
Eight months after we first reported that Westwood Village had a Daiso store on the way, the space is finally sporting signage. We have been passing by every few days or so and noticed the signage this afternoon. Daiso is moving into a combined space (formerly SportClips and Fresh Vitamins) a few doors north of Ross. While the signage simply says “spring” for its projected opening, one WSB reader who’s a frequent customer at another Daiso store in the region says the staff there told him they’re aiming for May. The only other claimed-but-not-open-yet space at WWV is the future Panda Express north of QFC.
With spring now less than a week away, we’re talking today about summer … jobs. We have an announcement from the DubSea Fish Sticks baseball team, which plays home games at nearby Steve Cox Memorial Park:
The DubSea Fish Sticks summer collegiate baseball team is holding a job fair Sunday, March 17, 2024 at Mel Olson Stadium inside King County’s Steve Cox Memorial Park. The job fair will run from 11 am-3 pm.
The team is currently looking to hire 50-60 part-time employees for the months of June and July. High school and college students are welcome to apply with select positions being available to those 14 years of age and older. There are select positions such as the concession manager, beer garden servers and security that do require the applicant to be 21 years of age or older.
The job fair will allow those interested in working for the Fish Sticks to find out more information about each position, apply, and interview on site. For those that are interested but cannot attend the job fair they can apply online at GoFishSticks.com/jobs. Positions that are currently available include mascot performer, concession manager, concessions, ticketing, merchandise, game day operations, beer garden servers, and security. The Fish Sticks also have multiple summer internships in digital marketing, and video production.
The DubSea Fish Sticks’ season begins on Saturday, June 3rd, and runs through August 3rd. They will host 27 different home shows (games) this summer at Mel Olson Stadium (aka The Fryer) at King County’s Steve Cox Memorial Park. The team hosts upward of 40 college players from around the country for the summer; they will play 45 games throughout the Pacific Northwest.
The stadium is at 1321 SW 102nd.
Reported via email:
My 2012 gray Hyundai Accent was stolen from our parking garage last night at Bradford Court I had two steering wheel locks on it. The rear window has a 12 sticker. Police Report: 24-069376. License Plate: AIC4926.
Call 911 if you see it.
Thanks to Joan Mussa for the photo and video of part of the second new dock being placed at West Seattle’s Don Armeni Boat Ramp:
The project website explains in detail why Seattle Parks couldn’t fulfill the initial promise of keeping one dock (float) open at all times, and says there won’t be one available until “late March,” but adds that “boaters can put their boats in without floats during non-working hours.”
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
A wide-ranging Admiral Neighborhood Association agenda drew about 30 people to Admiral Church last night; the meeting was facilitated by ANA president Joanie Jacobs.
Here’s how it unfolded, in the order in which this all happened:
SEATTLE POLICE: The Southwest-area Community Liaison Officer German Barreto spoke first. Trends from the past month in the Admiral area: Burglaries are up, thefts are up “but not that much,” motor-vehicle thefts have gone down. Eight so far this year. The seven other types of thefts included mail and packages. Assaults included “a dispute between coworkers at McDonald’s.” Eight burglaries included businesses and homes. No catalytic-converter thefts lately, he said in response to a question – “those have been going down.” In Q&A, one attendee asked about number of officers on patrol at any given time. Second watch (11 am-9 pm) is the busiest, he said, with 10 to 12 officers, but overall it fluctuates, and they have to “augment” with other officers on OT to at least hit minimums. He said they “go from call to call to call” because of the staffing levels, rather than having time to proactively patrol. Another Q: What’s the current state of traffic enforcement? Barreto notes that since there’s really no Traffic Unit due to staffing levels, that doesn’t happen much. Q: Are any detectives located in West Seattle? Reply: No, they’re centralized on the other side of the bay, as are the remaining specialty units such as Homicide and Robbery. In response to a question from president Jacobs, Officer Barreto reiterated, don’t EVER bother calling the non-emergency line – whenever you have someting to report, just call 911.
CITY COUNCILMEMBER ROB SAKA: Two months into his term, District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka is making the rounds of community meetings, and this was his first appearance at ANA.
(Photo by Rosalie Miller – Grevillea victoriae bloom, South Seattle College Arboretum)
Here’s what’s happening today/tonight, mostly from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
DINE-OUT BENEFIT FOR SANISLO ELEMENTARY: Dine at Puerto Vallarta (4727 California SW) any time today/tonight and part of the proceeds go to Sanislo Elementary.
TODDLER READING TIME: Wednesdays at 10:30 am at Paper Boat Booksellers (6040 California SW).
ST. PATRICK’S DAY SHOW: Free show 1 pm at Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon), “Silver Sounds will present a lively ‘Wearin’ O’ the Green’ celebration, including songs, jokes, a singalong, plus prizes and a mystery raffle.”
FREE TODDLER GYM: 3-5 pm drop-in playspace at the Salvation Army Center in South Delridge (9050 16th SW).
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES: Second week with cookie booths at multiple locations this afternoon/evening. Search here for your nearest locations.
FIX-IT WORKSHOP: Repair your broken item instead of replacing it! Weekly event, 5:30-7:30 pm at West Seattle Tool Library (4408 Delridge Way SW, northeast side of Youngstown Cultural Arts Center).
FREE GROUP RUN: Meet at West Seattle Runner (2743 California SW; WSB sponsor) for the weekly free group run, 6 pm.
TRIVIA x 4: Four places to play tonight. At 6 pm, Locust Cider (2820 Alki SW) offers trivia … Larry’s Tavern (3405 California SW) hosts Wednesday-night trivia starting at 7:30 pm … Quiz Night begins at 8 pm at Beveridge Place Pub (6413 California SW) … and at 8:30 pm, trivia with Phil T at Talarico’s (4718 California SW).
LIVE MUSIC AT THE LOCOL: 6:30 pm. 21+. Rotating performer slate. (7902 35th SW)
POETRYBRIDGE: Celebrate poetry at C & P Coffee (5612 California SW; WSB sponsor), 7 pm.
MUSIC BINGO: Play weekly at The Good Society (California/Lander), 7 pm.
34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS: Our area’s largest political organization meets tonight at 7 pm, online.
SKYLARK OPEN MIC: 7:30 pm signups for West Seattle’s longest-running open mic. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
If you’re planning a presentation, meeting, performance, reading, tour, fundraiser, sale, discussion, etc., and it’s open to the community, please send us info for West Seattle’s only comprehensive event calendar! westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
Here’s another West Seattle school fundraiser you can participate in right now – the Fauntleroy Children’s Center annual online auction, continuing through late Sunday night. Here’s the announcement:
The Fauntleroy Schoolhouse has been part of the heartbeat of West Seattle since 1917. In 1977, Fauntleroy Children’s Center was founded to provide local working families with high-quality, affordable child care. FCC is governed by the Fauntleroy Community Service Agency and is a nonprofit organization.
On behalf of Fauntleroy Children’s Center (FCC), which serves over 130 families in our community, we would love for you to participate in our 37th annual auction.
Our online auction catalog is NOW OPEN for bidding! Families, friends, and neighbors are all welcome to bid. Online auction bidding begins March 9th ends at 11:45 pm on March 17th.
The annual auction is a significant opportunity for the FCC community to come together and ensure the school has funding to carry on its mission of being the place children want to be. Our fundraising goal is $40,000 as we try to help with tuition scholarships, teacher continuing-education credits, rainy-day funds for capital improvements, and raise the final dollars needed to break ground on our new playgrounds!
Thank you for contributing to FCC and the work that they do to provide a safe, nurturing, educational, and creative place for our community’s children.
More than 130 items are up for bidding, including a wide variety of certificates and cards to be used at local businesses.
6:01 AM: Good morning! It’s Wednesday, March 13th, and the spring equinox is now less than a week away.
WEATHER + SUNRISE/SUNSET TIMES
Partly sunny, high in the upper 40s (20 degrees cooler than the projected high for Sunday!). Sunrise will be at 7:25 am, sunset at 7:13 pm.
ROAD-WORK ALERT
Work on the north section of the East Marginal Way project was expected to start this week – let us know if you see it happening!
TRANSIT NOTES
Metro today – Regular schedule; check advisories here.
Water Taxi today – Regular schedule. Check the real-time map if you need to see where the boat is.
Washington State Ferries today – The usual 2 boats on the Triangle Route. Per WSF alerts, “Due to some unplanned bridgework maintenance at the Fauntleroy terminal, single-lane loading and off-loading will be occurring until further notice. This may result in future delays.” Use the real-time map to see where your ferry is.
SPOTLIGHT TRAFFIC CAMERAS
Delridge cameras: Besides the one below (Delridge/Orchard), cameras are also at Delridge/Genesee, Delridge/Juneau, Delridge/Henderson, and Delridge/Oregon.
High Bridge – the main camera:
High Bridge – the view from its southwest end (when SDOT points the 35th/Avalon/Fauntleroy camera that way):
Low Bridge:
1st Ave. S. Bridge:
Highway 99: – northbound side at Lander:
MORE TRAFFIC CAMS: All functioning traffic cams citywide are here; West Seattle and vicinity-relevant cameras are on this WSB page.
BRIDGE INFO: The @SDOTBridges feed on X (ex-Twitter) shows whether the city’s movable bridges are opening for vessel traffic.
If you see a problem on the bridges/streets/paths/water, please text or call us (when you can do that safely, and after you’ve reported to authorities if they’re not already on scene). Thank you!
Just before 1 am, a 911 caller reported that someone broke into the AT&T store at Jefferson Square by throwing a brick through the glass. Police arrived and confirmed the break-in. The burglar was described over the air as white, male, and wearing a red coat, last seen walking away carrying bags, apparently containing stolen items. No arrest reported so far; police called in SFD to board up the door. If you have any information, the police incident number for reference is 24-069059.
Tonight, we have two reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch, plus SPD-released video from a triple-carjack-attempt case we covered in December.
MAILBOX BREAK-IN: Via text – this happened in a building at California and College in Admiral:
From security footage from the manager – at around 3:30 AM a man used the USPS key box to access the building door, then used USPS mailbox key to open all boxes, went through the mail, then closed it back up. He busted a separate mail box for commercial residents, then opened two adjacent doors, 1 leading up to floors and the other into a hallway leading to the back door into the alley where he left.
When the manager filed a report with the USPS he was told that one of their trucks was stolen with the keys in it. He also tried to open the large blue USPS box in front of La Premiere Apts but was not successful … I ran into the mailman & he opened the box to see if the entrance door key was there & apparently he put it back so he could come back. So this guy is very intentional he has the USPS master key, uses it to go in and out of the buildings, takes the mail he wants, puts the key back to come back for more crimes.
The SPD report # is 24-904172.
CAR WINDOWS SMASHED: The photo and report are from Jeffrey in The Junction:
At 4532 42nd Ave SW, my car window got smashed inside the parking garage. And, I noticed outside the apartment complex on 42nd Ave SW, there was another vehicle that was street parked with a smashed window. According to building staff, they’ve been hearing the whole block has been experiencing smash and grab.
SPD RELEASES VIDEO FROM DECEMBER ARRESTS: Today, SPD released an edited video compilation from a case we covered extensively when it happened almost three months ago – three West Seattle carjacking attempts in one night a week before Christmas, followed by a pursuit that ended with police arresting teenage suspects near Boeing Field. First, here’s the new video:
Here’s our original report as it all unfolded the night it happened, and here’s our followup after the suspects were charged three days later (as shown in that story, the charging documents in December even had framegrabs from the video made public today). So what’s happened since then? The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says the 16-year-old and one of the 14-year-olds are on electronic home monitoring, while the other 14-year-old remains in detention.
Shortly after tonight’s 8 pm voting deadline, King County Elections released the first round of results in the presidential primary:
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Joseph R. Biden Jr. – 195,549 – 84.21%
Uncommitted Delegates – 23,574 – 10.15%
Dean Phillips – 5,698 – 2.45%
Marianne Williamson – 4,713 – 2.03%
Write-in – 2,693 – 1.16%
REPUBLICAN PARTY
Donald J. Trump – 54,171 – 61.01%
Nikki Haley – 29,810 – 33.57%
Ron DeSantis – 1,979 – 2.23%
Chris Christie – 1,272 – 1.43%
Vivek Ramaswamy – 943 – 1.06%
Write-in – 671 – 0.70%
The ballots in tonight’s count represent a 23% turnout so far; here are the latest ballot-return stats. To see the statewide results, go here.
P.S. Here’s our report on the first night’s results four years ago.
If you’re traveling through Fauntleroy late tonight or early tomorrow, take care around the intersection of 44th/Brace Point/Wildwood, on the east edge of the Endolyne mini-business district – a Seattle Public Utilities crew is there for what’s described as “planned work,” affecting more than 60 nearby homes and businesses, but expected to be wrapped up by morning.
Another local youth-sports team is back from big success on the road, at a big regional tournament. Here’s the report we were asked to share with you:
This past weekend, the 12U team from the Washington Baseball Academy and their families headed to the desert in Phoenix to compete in the USSA Easton Hype Tour Spring Championship. The tournament had a total of 271 teams in all divisions and teams from as far away as Hawaii and Texas. The crew from West Seattle competed in the 12U AA division and got runner-up in the Copper Division.
Coaches: Dale Ross and Peter Tarabochia
Players and Coaches proudly showing their 2nd-place rings!
Ben Datz
Ben Tarabochia
Calvin Carlson
Duncan McKinney
Gavin Ross
Jason Moran
Nathan Shafi
Riley Landa
Lachlan Gosztola
Sidney Stauffer
Cameroon Widman
Garek Wadden
Thanks to Peter Moran for sending the report; he notes that the team practices at a facility on West Marginal Way: “All of the kids are West Seattle and most play West Seattle Little League as well.”
Your next chance to see and hear the Northwest Symphony Orchestra in West Seattle is just days away. NWSO is sponsoring WSB right now to help get the word out about this year’s “Music for the Soul” concert on Saturday (March 16), 8 pm at Holy Rosary Church (42nd SW & SW Genesee). The NWSO’s announcement says, “This season we focus on the themes of beauty, hope and joy – featuring 5 different works that span much of the course of music history.” The program includes a world-premiere work by local composer Huntley Beyer as well as music by Brahms, Schubert, and J.S. Bach. You can get tickets right now by going here.
Morgan is hoping somebody on the bridge saw this happen:
I was hit and run today on the West Seattle (Bridge) as I was heading westbound into West Seattle at approximately 12:16 pm. This happened just before the 1st Ave exit in the right-hand lane. I was driving a white 2018 Audi SQ5 and the car that hit me was a black Acura 4-door with dark tinted windows; it looked like a mid-2010 TSX/TL. It hit me 3 times and took off at over 100 mph. They took the Admiral Way exit and then I lost them. They will have right front damage, mostly white paint from my Audi. My entire left side from bumper to front end was damaged. Unfortunately, it happened so fast I couldn’t get a license plate, but there were so many people that witnessed it I was hoping someone saw or recorded it and can provide information to the police. The SPD case # is 24-068499. They never had any intention of stopping, and although I and my dog are sore, it could have been much worse, so I am grateful we are unharmed.
2:07 PM: Port-bound truck backups on the westbound West Seattle Bridge aren’t new, but readers have called our attention to what seem like unusual backups these past few days. Right now, the trucks are lined all the way back to I-5 on the westbound bridge, and lower Spokane Street is clogged too, as shown in this texted photo:
We’re checking with the port to see if there’s a reason for these backups. Meantime, if you have to head to West Seattle from points north, also note that the Corson/Michigan offramp from southbound I-5 is blocked by a truck-on-side crash, so that’s not an option right now either.
2:47 PM: The truck backup on the bridge has cleared or lessened, based on the live-camera view of the east end of the bridge.
ADDED WEDNESDAY: We heard back today from Melanie Stambaugh of the Northwest Seaport Alliance, which oversees the cargo docks in both Seattle and Tacoma. She says that although these were afternoon backups, they believe the problem may be at least partly traceable to the morning: “I talked with our team and it seems the backups are not tied to any specific incident. Instead, truck drivers are arriving early to their morning appointments before the terminal opens which is causing backups. Additionally, we’re looking at nearby traffic signals to see if they are a contributing factor. We’ve engaged SDOT on behalf of our tenant to evaluate the traffic signals to ensure they are aligned to balance truck movement with general purpose traffic. Both the terminal and the NWSA are communicating with truckers to try to limit early arrivals to prevent these backups.” NWSA also has issued an advisory related to the newly started East Marginal safety project.
“If rock bottom was ever a thing, we’re probably there.” That’s how District 1 City Councilmember Rob Saka described the first statistic presented during this morning’s Public Safety Committee briefing about Seattle Police hiring and recruiting.
The briefing (full slide deck here) was focused more on recruiting/hiring processes than on specifics of where staffing stands now – aside from that one overall stat – so we don’t have, for example, a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of current staffing – other updates are given on that periodically. But the council did hear a lot about how recruiting and hiring works, and doesn’t work, right now.
The briefing was presented by a team led by Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess (a former police officer and city councilmember). One long-running factor, the contract negotiations with the officers’ union, is “very close” to agreement, Burgess said toward the briefing’s end, without elaborating. But many other factors affecting recruiting and hiring were discussed. “The problem of recruitment is not just a Seattle problem,” he and others at the table – including SPD Chief Adrian Diaz – stressed.
This group followed a briefing earlier in the meeting that included some revelations about what Councilmember Cathy Moore observed was a “clunky” process of moving candidates along through various stages of screening and testing – the length of time it takes to provide SPD with lists of qualified candidates, for example. “I don’t get a sense of urgency,” Moore said.
The process moves faster than it used to, councilmembers were told, but still could move faster. But the SPD and mayor’s-office team listed other factors – like starting salary, in which they said Seattle ranks 15th on a list of jurisdictions with which it competes for officers:
There was some discussion of incentives offered by other jurisdictions, such as take-home vehicles and housing subsidies (none of which are being currently offered or proposed by Seattle), Meantime, among the applicants SPD is getting, the ethnic diversity outstrips the city as a whole, but the gender diversity still lags far behind:
Councilmember Moore called out the low percentage of female applicants, noting that women said child care was a factor in their decisions, and saying she’d like to see “a plan” for addressing that. Scheduling challenges too. She also voiced concerns about problems such as sexual harassment that were raised in the recent “30 by 30” report – addressing SPD’s efforts in a nationwide initiative toward 30 percent female officers in sworn law enforcement. Chief Diaz said there’s a “women’s workgroup” and also noted that two-thirds of the SPD civilian staff is female.
Much time in the briefing was spent on the million-dollar-plus marketing/advertising plan for which SPD hired an outside agency; Burgess said its debut was followed by an “immediate uptick in applications.” Saka suggested later, though, that “we’re not going to market our way out of this,” but also offered that in addition to featuring the mayor and others, the marketing campaign should call attention to the changed council as well.
Besides spending money on advertising, SPD reps said they’re also strategizing with recruiters from private-sector companies and have meetings scheduled next month with firms including Microsoft, T-Mobile, and Nordstrom; they also talked about software programs they’re using to communicate more responsively with candidates. And they thanked councilmembers for their shows of support, such as attending roll calls at precincts. But they acknowledged that overall, the department lost more officers than it hired last year, so there is more work to do if they’re going to build back the numbers. (We’ll add video of today’s meeting when it’s available on the Seattle Channel website later.)
ADDED: Here’s the meeting video – this discussion starts 1 hour, 12 minutes in.
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