The LCNA North Precinct Liason, Steve D., has been attending the North Precinct Advisory Council meetings. Below is his report back from the January and February meetings:
January was quiet at NPAC, so I decided to couple it with February.
January
- Dennis, the drug sniffing dog was the keynote. 3year old yellow lab. Knows 19,000 explosive odors. Flunked out of guide dog school due to being too curious. Has to earn 100% on his recertification test every year. 99% means back to school.
- Jana Jorgensen, City Attorney says the Orion hotel signed an agreement with the city and has 180 days to correct the illegal behavior going on there or face stiff penalties as part of Chronic Nuisance Abatement Agreement. SPD has been by and said it is “a ghost town.”
- Judy Lewis with liquor board says they continue to work with feds on marijuana guidelines. If you go to Portland and purchase more than 6 cases of liquor, expect a visit from State Patrol or liquor board.
February:
- Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, who runs SPD’s Blotter http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/ was the keynote. Blotter is designed to get information directly to citizens, NOT to control the news. Blotter works with neighborhood blogs as well as reporting criminal activity around the city. If you have not checked out the Blotter, it is well worth your time.
- Tweet By Beat – if you go here on SPD’s web site, or just Google it, you can go to a box entitled “find your precinct and beat” and type in your address. It will link you to tweets by officers in your neighborhood. There is up to an hour delay, UNLESS there is an emergency (shooting, robbery, etc) then it goes on real time. You do not need a twitter account to access this.
- Seattle Districts Now http://www.seattledistrictsNow.org representative spoke and are proposing a change from at-large elections of City Council, to a mixed districts/at-large system. The goal is to gather 31,000 signatures and get this initiative on the ballot in 11/13. Go to the web site and check out the maps. The districts were drawn by Dr. Richard Morill from UW. By federal law, they are all withing 1% population from one and other. Go to the website for more information.
- Jana Jorgensen, City Attorney, spoke about car camping. There is a Mayoral council looking at this. If you have car campers in your neighbor hood you are encouraged to send any information including photos, behavior descriptions and license plate numbers to Jana at jana.jorgensen@seattle.gov When business owners speak up it is especially powerful.
- King County Prosecutor is working on the following: Move gun crime prosecution for minors from currently 5 convictions before jail time, to 2 convictions. Increase the protection order for stalking victims. Look at compensation for people how were convicted and later found innocent, not released on legal issues, but actually found to be innocent.
- NPAC Officers are starting a campaign to actively recruit new members including churches. That’s on the agenda for March, along with a visit from Nick Lacata.
The notes from the NPAC Secretary are available here and here as well.